No Free Ride to Redemption
by Corvus no Genmu
Summary: How do you keep going when there’s nothing left for you here? Who do you fight for, when no one here cares for your life? Will you follow us, through heaven and hell, for those reasons? “Yes.” Then prepare yourself for one long ride...
1. In the Beginning

DISCLAIMER: I OWN WHAT IS MY OWN.

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* * *

**No Free Ride to Redemption**

By Corvus no Genmu

"_In the Beginning"_

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**_"How do you keep going when there's nothing left for you here?"_**

* * *

There has not nor will there ever truly be a shortage of demons in the world. Be they of man's own or of a power unknown, demons will forever roam in the shadows, striking when they see fit and leaving naught but ruins behind in their wake. In the written histories of the world, there have been many demons noted but only nine have lived on in history with their names whole and unforgotten, all born from a single powerful entity that could, at worst, be proclaimed as a god. They are called the Tailed Beasts, nine great beasts of power each stronger than the other by correspondence with the number of tails they possess. From the one-tailed Shukaku of the Desert Sands to the nine-tailed Kyuubi no Youko, each tailed beast has wrought great destruction upon whatever land they came across until, at last, the era of ninjas began in full and with it, the art of sealing.

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**_"What do you desire most in this world, that which you would kill to possess?"_**

* * *

It took much time and great sacrifice but, eventually, all nine Beasts were sealed away into human hosts, poor babes born on the days of their final attacks upon mankind or merely serving as an alternate prison as the old proved useless in beneficial terms. These poor souls, hated by demons and feared by their fellow humans are called jinchuuriki, a word in the old tongue that translates to "the art of human sacrifice", a befitting term for them. They are poor souls, growing up as weapons by their own choice or through others'. Either way, no jinchuuriki would live beyond their late twenties. Such is the fate of jinchuuriki and the Tailed Beasts bound to them.

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**_"Who do you fight for, when no one here cares for your life?"_**

* * *

However, as much as the jinchuuriki were feared and hated, as dangerous and powerful the Tailed Beasts were, they both were creations of humanity. The jinchuuriki were born of human sacrifice and the manmade arts of sealing while the Tailed Beasts themselves were creations born through different means but all sharing in their connection to humanity's darkness mixed with the earth's rage, minute as it is now to what it once was. Madness born of endless travel, fear born of approaching death, souls lost forever at sea… all human emotions and blackened hearts combining with formidable animals and elemental forces of nature, from them creating great and terrible beasts of power and rage.

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**_"Why do you smile, when inside you are drowning in a sea of tears?"_**

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Still…… there are stories whispered in the forbidden corners and lost alleyways, in dark labyrinths and forgotten libraries amidst tomes older than man's knowledge of jutsu that there were creatures far more dangerous, and far more powerful, than all of the Tailed Beasts. Monsters born purely of the earth and its vast variety of elements, born of a rage made by what man once was millennia past in a time long forgotten. Where, under man's power, forests fell into seas of ash and the oceans boiled as the greatest of storms gathered at their every whim. Their toys became the makers of their undoing and these would-be gods fell to the very creatures they created, led and united under a great and terrible beast of unimaginable power and already old even at the ancient human's beginning.

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**_"Will you follow us, through heaven and hell, for those reasons?"_**

* * *

In the end, the Ancient Ones and their powerful technology vanished with their destroyers following them into near-forgotten obscurity. Only the descendants of those powerful people live on, only just touching the surface of what they once held and yet still having their senseless capacity to destroy each other. As for their ancestor's destroyers… No one knows of the full truth of their disappearance. There are whispers of the destroyers' power being too great and they themselves were killed by what made them so powerful in the first place. Others say that with their mother's vengeance satisfied, they were allowed free reign, the world, nay the entire universe, was theirs to explore and they were out there still and, eventually, they would return home. A precious few say nay to both theories; that the monsters were blessed, or cursed, with a better perception of the world then their demonic cousins. They saw the rises and falls of man and decided the better part of valor and so vanished, waiting in the shadows of the earth's forgotten history until the time was right for them to emerge once more.

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"Yes."

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_To Be Continued..._

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On the next road…  
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_Meeting Again  
_


	2. Meeting Again

DISCLAIMER: I OWN WHAT IS MY OWN.

* * *

**No Free Ride to Redemption**

By Corvus no Genmu

_"Meeting Again"_

"Still as loud-mouthed as ever Uzumaki…?" Naruto and the rest of the Rookie Nine turned sharply in surprise, their shock and anger at Naruto's sudden shout of attention forgotten even amidst the swarm of killing intent from the other genin in the room. The teenager yawned, revealing more than a usual amount of canines. "Too early for this shit…"

He tall, taller than most sixteen years old would be if his appearance was anything to go by. His hair was colored like ash with tips of red at the spiky locks that fell down past eyes of molten light. He didn't wear the usual shinobi standard, opting for a simple black pants with a tanktop and chunin-like flak vest which showed off the heavy muscles on his chest and arms, drawing more stares from Ino than anyone else. He also wore a pair of thick arm guards on his wrists that were decorated with swirling flames. Like Hinata, he wore his hitai-ate around his neck but it wasn't a design that any of the Konoha genin could recognize.

A set of three circles that together formed the jagan, the "third eye".

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the intruder of their circle. "Who are you?"

The teenaged genin opened his eyes, glancing at the Uchiha for a moment before snorting and looking away, obviously bored with the younger genin. "Not that it'll do you much good to know; I am Ardiendo Rugido of Jin'eigakure."

"Man's Shadow?" asked Ino, her hands on her hips as she regarded Ardiendo with a scrutinous eye. "What kind of name is that for a village?"

"Better than Oto I assure you." Ardiendo glanced out of the corner of his eye. "Nothing but backwater thugs whose talents lie more in useless song and dance than anything else."

"That's a bold statement for someone of another village to say." Sakura noted, glancing curiously at Naruto who surprisingly remained quiet and attentive, his eyes fully open and never leaving Ardiendo's face.

The foreign genin's eyes trailed over to her, listlessly looking her up and down before settling on her face. "My village specializes in information Sakura Haruno of Team 7," He yawned once more. "What I'd give for some coffee… not that a guy can get a decent cuppa in this damn country…"

"Information you say?" Sasuke stepped forward, getting right in Ardiendo's face much to Naruto's sudden concern. "What do you know of Rock Lee of Konoha and Gaara of Suna?"

Ardiendo slowly looked down into Sasuke's face, his molten eyes nearly glowing, a faint rumble echoing from a sightless form behind the younger genin as sharpened claws drew near to bite the Uchiha's throat and rip it free. Ardiendo made a small shrug and the shade moved back, its glowing eyes falling upon a wide-eyed Uzumaki and smiling in recognition, crocodilian tail wagging back and forth on the floor.

"You are either more arrogant than I was informed or you're even less intelligent than I imagined. You think your family name means something to me, boy? I know well the history of the Uchiha clan, and it's a dark story bubbling beneath a stagnat ocean for several generations. Consider yourself fortunate that you are a member of Uzumaki's team or you'd have been struck down, regardless of the consequences."

"Don't talk to Sasuke-kun like that!" shouted Sakura and Ino in stereo.

Ardiendo spared them a glance and snorted derisively before turning and looking over the room, his eyes seeing a few familiar faces amidst the crowd. He pocketed his hands and leaned back against the wall, his invisible companion moving to recline beside him. "Rock Lee… ah, the one with caterpillars attached to his forehead… personality aside he suffers from a rare but deadly handicap. His chakra level is high enough for him to live but no more, no less. Despite this, he's one of the strongest genin I've ever come across. His goal is to become a great ninja through taijutsu alone, something he might very well achieve one of these days… He would be a true challenge to my strength…"

"Whoa…" Naruto's eyes drifted over to Lee who was pretending not to have overheard Ardiendo and failing miserably at it by the flames in his eyes and the smile on his face. Ardiendo shrugged indifferently as the invisible shadow beside him glared at the sole trio from Suna, a pair of cold teal eyes meeting its own.

"Gaara of the Desert Sands…" Ardiendo muttered, pulling out a switch-knife and twirling it lightly in his hand. "A unique case… He's done several C-ranked missions plus a few B-rank and on each one he's come out of it without a scratch."

"Not a scratch? That's inhuman!" exclaimed Kiba. "Even a jonin would get injured on a B-rank mission."

Ardiendo's eyes brightened with inner light for but a brief second but it was gone before anyone could notice. "You're assumption is closer than you believe. He travels down the same road as you and I, Uzumaki, however deviated it might be now."

Naruto's eyes snapped between Ardiendo and Gaara before settling down at the floor, his face unnaturally grim before the usual smile was back, ignoring the confused stares of his fellow Leaf genin. "He must have a pair of worn sandals by now then huh?"

"Not yet. Soon perhaps," supplied Ardiendo, "but not today at any rate." He looked at the Rookie Nine in turn, his speech grim and to the point. "I don't care if you believe me or not but listen to my words. Of all the genin here in this room, be wary of him the most. Do not make it a point to attract his attention for those who gain the interest of Gaara of the Desert Sands…"

"Don't live long to brag about it." Ardiendo smirked before he turned to regard the two newcomers to the circle of genin, ignoring their gasps of shock and awe. One was a boy of a junior year to Ardiendo's age tough only a few inches shorter than him. He was dressed in more civilian attire, well-worn jeans that had been through the ringer, and a white tank-top with a similar flak-vest to Ardiendo's own save for its black coloring to his red. Instead of sandals, he wore a pair of tennis-shoes that looked well-used from the dirt and grass-stains marking them.

He had the same standard gear, kunai and shuriken pouches, attached to both his thighs but in his hands he held a long staff of some sort that could not be seen for what it was thanks to the cloth bound tightly around it. Tied tightly above his dark brown eyes, just beneath the spiky bangs of his black hair was the same hitai-ate as Ardiendo's. Riding atop his shoulders was another invisible entity who looked remarkably bored with the proceedings at hand, sparing the gathered genin a hungry leer before focusing on better things.

The other was a girl that surpassed nine feet of height with ease despite just turning fifteen a few months ago. She wore a form-fitting t-shirt that showed her well-developed chest and equally tight pants that fell past mid-thigh but no more. She wore an oversized flak-vest colored in a sea-green that matched well with her auburn hair, which was done up in a pair of ponytails on both sides of her head, and the sandals adorning her feet were obviously custom-made. She had no ninja gear save for a pair of oversized shuriken held in a pouch strapped to her thigh, but she also had a large back-saw resting on her back in a leather sheathe.

Like Ardiendo, she opted to wear her hitai-ate elsewhere and had it tied tightly around her left bicep. Her shining green eyes were wide and she was smiling cheerfully despite the stares she was receiving. Flowing up behind her, her own "invisible friend" made its presence known to those that could see it, reaching out with a soft tentacle and stirring the hair on Naruto's head in greeting.

"Ushio Aotsuki. Mana Eimiya. My teammates." Ardiendo said by way of introducting the two. He glanced up at the taller Mana, smiling playfully. "Wish your husband luck?"

Mana's face turned as red as her hair before she stomped her foot, shaking the room and startling many of the genin out of their minds with her yelling, "He's not my husband!" She looked to the side, twirling a finger around one of her ponytails, whispering shyly. "Not yet anyway…"

Ushio shook his head, smiling ruefully. "Aren't you going to ask the same about your wife, Ryu-nee?" His smirked grew at the sudden redness of Ardiendo's own face, from anger or embarrassment it was hard to tell.

"Zip it." Ardiendo snapped, turning his back on the Rookie Nine. "Let's head back to our spot before those Oto idiots try anything stupid." Ushio nodded while Mana looked over at the trio who, upon seeing her attention on them, wisely chose to focus their own elsewhere. The trio from Jin'eigakure headed away from genin of Jin'eigakure with three invisible hands giving them careless waves of farewell.

"The Chunin Exams… just got interesting…" whispered Shino.

"Yeah, no doubt about that…" said Shikamaru before sighing. "Troublesome…"

'_More than you know…_' thought Naruto, his eyes narrowed into foxlike slits and a grim frown on his face. His eyes opened by a bare crack, meeting those of his polar opposite yet near perfect twin. '_Gaara of the Desert Sands… damn everybody's got cool titles but me!_'

* * *

Ardiendo gazed down at his test sheet with some trepidation. '_This is worse than cheating, they want me to do math!_' He glanced at the unseen shade resting atop the table without pause of concern despite its weight. '_Don't suppose you know anything about shinobi physics do you?_' Molten eyes narrowed and a huff of embers snorted out from a crocodilian nose, before turning away in obvious dismissal. '_So much for that…_'

Ushio had a plan, it was a simple plan at best but those were the best kinds. His sense of pride refused him to sink so low as to cheat but he was not gifted with the intelligence necessary to answer the questions properly. He'd just have to get by on the final question at the end. He just needed to wait for an hour or so! He realized the error of this wonderfully simple plan with a jolt as feline claws dug deeper into his shoulder, a invisible body leaning down to stare at the paper with half-lidded eyes.

"**_… I'm bored._**"

Mana herself was feeling rather confident. Though she wasn't truly any more booksmart than her teammates, the tall girl was lucky enough to have a seat in the far back and was able to cheat wholly and without pause for none of the proctors could legally mark her off for being so tall that she had to sit on the floor and yet still be heads above everyone elese.

Right?

She sighed and bowed as low as she could, wishing they'd allow her to enlarge the table some but it was hard enough to get them to let the pencil's sudden enlargement fly she didn't want to push it. Resting atop her head, coiled like a snake, her invisible companion glanced at the paper in silence before shaking its head, waterlike gell sloshing. Humans and their menial equations…

* * *

"Don't underestimate me! I won't run!" Naruto glared at the proctor of the first portion of the Chunin Exam, Morino Ibiki, who merely watched the boy with cold indifference on his scarred face. "You think your stupid rules scare me?! You think _you _scare me?! I've seen things that make the Kyubi itself scream in fear! So what if I'm stuck a genin forever?! Then I'll just have to be the first genin to become Hokage! No matter what it takes, I'm not afraid. So ask your damn question!" Naruto sat back down on his seat with an audible huff.

Huffing laughter came from Ardiendo who sat a few rows back and to the left of the sun-kissed blonde. "A little over the top but he's right. Your ruse has fallen." He twirled his pencil and let it fly forward, his smirk growing as it impaled the wall next to the chalkboard. "And I sympathize with the boy. I for one, am not afraid. Not of you."

Ibiki glanced across the room. '_Remarkable… the little brat completely brushed away those kids' anxieties. … 84, huh? Much more left than I expected. It's going to be the same, no matter how much more I push it._' Ibiki looked down upon the Uzumaki brat, Konoha's one and only jinchuuriki. He silently wondered at the choice of words the boy had used in his childish tirade. Seems a word with the Hokage was needed sooner than he thought…

"Well then, I admire your determination! For those of you still remaining, there is one thing left to do… and that's for me to tell you… That you've all passed the first exam." He smirked evilly at the looks he received from the genin. Physical torture was all well and good but nothing beat a good screwing of young and innocent minds.

* * *

It was late into the night, nearly midnight and yet as troublesome as it was to stay awake even when fully rested, a young man early in his twenties stood quietly before Konoha's memorial stone. His clothes blended in perfectly with the darkness of the moonlit night, making him near invisible save for the pale visage of his face. His hair, short and cropped into long spikes that flowed back along his head save for a few forelocks that fell to just above his eyes, was pastel gray, nearly ashlike, and tied into eight separate plaits along the back of his head. Tied tightly around his forehead was the hitai-ate of the Village Hidden in Man's Shadow.

His face was rather gaunt in the moonlight, giving it a skeletal like quality despite the healthy amount of muscle to his flesh. His gleaming amethyst eyes seemed to shine in the dark as he stared somberly at the name that decorated the angular stone that rested in an intricately carved circle, serving both as a reminder of the heroes lost and a crude form of sundial.

'_A meaning within a meaning, very droll Hashirama…_' The man's eyes flashed violet. "Potious sero quam numquam, Uzumaki-kun."

"How do you _do _that?" Naruto landed beside him without a sound, staring at the older ninja with wide eyes.

"Magic, now what are you doing out so late? The second portion of the Chunin Exams will be starting in a few hours."

Naruto huffed like a petulant child, crossing his arms over his orange-colored jacket. "You're up."

"The darkness is my friend, the shadows my allies, the night my home. I'm also a better judge of my limitations than you," he retorted, "so drop the attitude. I've enough childishness from the others as it is."

Naruto hmmed softly under his breath and walked over to stand beside him, staring at the memorial stone. "… Is everyone here?"

"All of us and a few you've not yet met," he answered carelessly. "Some traveling the same road, others not yet beginning."

Naruto's fist clenched tight as his shoulders trembled. His eyes were unnaturally hard as he spoke, "Something bad is going to happen, right? That's why you're here?"

He chuckled and ruffled Naruto's hair. "I thought you were the optimist, Uzumaki-kun. Our first intention was to visit you of course."

"… Really?" The gaunt ninja kept his ire from his face but just barely so. As it was, there came a rumble from deep within the rippling shadows, but remained unnoticed by the blonde.

"Naruto." He turned to face the young genin fully. "Though we don't share blood or flesh, never doubt that we are family. Family born out of circumstance but family nonetheless. _Si vales, valeo_. Now, as you're adoptive uncle, I'm invoking my rights to kick your ass back to bed."

"Aww!"

"Go or I'll have Lotus after you." He watched with no small bit of amusement as Naruto vanished in a blur of orange and yellow. Surprisingly quick but nothing too impressive. His back turned to the memorial stone, the young jonin suddenly drew a kunai in hand and tossed it away into the blackness where it thudded against the trunk of a tree, piercing it down to the ringed hilt.

"That was a private conversation between myself and my family. Leaf or not, I won't allow another eavesdropper. Be sure to tell Hiruzen that Razin Urashima and the Mayoigo Clan are back, and this time, we'll be taking what's ours with us." With seemingly nothing more to say, he turned and started walking down the beaten path to the village proper. However, once he was a good distance away, he stopped and lowered his hitai-ate over his eyes. "Oh, and one more thing… _Blind_."

The kunai Razin had thrown glowed before exploding with all the intensity of a star, bathing the entire district in white hot light. The gaunt ninja was already gone and moving well into the village, the shadows stretching around his form and hiding him from sight.

_

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To Be Continued..._

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TRANSLATIONS:

_"Si vales, valeo."_ LATIN: "If you are well, I am well."

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**On the next road…  
**

_A Change of Plan_


	3. A Change of Plan

DISCLAIMER: I OWN WHAT IS MY OWN.

* * *

**No Free Ride to Redemption**

By Corvus no Genmu

_"A Change of Plan"_

Ardiendo stretched his back as far as he could, groaning tiredly as he did so. "It's too early for this shit…"

"Snrrrr…" His crimson eyes opened in a flash, glaring at Ushio who had somehow managed to remain standing on his feet by leaning heavily on his hidden staff-like weapon and so was completely asleep to the world.

"You better be faking or when we get back, I'll tell Asako you saw Mayuko naked."

"I'm up! I'm awake, I'm… snrrrr…" Gravity finally proclaimed victory over Ushio and the boy was facedown in the dirt.

"Why do I even bother?" Ardiendo looked up to the heavens, expecting an answer and soon got one as Mana's face came into view as she leaned over him to look down at his upturned eyes.

"He was up late training again." She explained.

Ardiendo sighed, shaking his head before glancing up at Mana out the corner of his eye, taking note of the scarf she now wore around her neck. He smirked and quirked an eyebrow to which Mana flushed red and giggled nervously as she played with the ends of her lengthy scarf.

"I take it he's gone and surprised you again, neh?" Ardiendo chuckled as the tall girl's flush darkened till her whole face resembled a tomato. He laughed outright at that. "Fires below, you two are so amusing."

"Better than the sidestepping you do with Mink, eh?" A suddenly awake and aware Ushio, grinning at the sudden scowl on Ardiendo's face. "Like a horse you are when it comes to her."

The red-eyed, unofficial leader of the team opened his mouth to retort when his nostrils suddenly flared. "Do you smell that?"

"Eh?" Ushio and Mana exchanged looks before Ushio closed his shifting eyes and took a whiff of air. In the state he was in, Ushio had an above average sense of smell, that average being a canine's own though it was no where near Ardiendo's, especially Kodou's, sense of smell. Still, he could detect a hint of something… He carefully looked over towards a trio of genin just arriving to the the entryway of the so-called "Forest of Death".

"Shukaku's getting ornery. To be bold so suddenly without them here… Think he knows?" asked Ushio, sparing the eyebrowless genin a short glance.

"Doubtful. Look at Gaara. He wants nothing to do with us, not yet at any rate." Ardiendo answered, noting how indifferent the Sand genin was despite the pheromones Shukaku was releasing. '_A special cocktail to increase one's sense of pride and lower their fear… a pheromone to make easy prey of those who would be otherwise difficult opponents…_' Ardiendo grinned, revealing several sharp canines. '_You're smarter than I gave you credit for tankuki bastard…_'

* * *

"You'll soon find out why it's called "The Forest of Death"…" Anko's grin was sickening sweet as she looked over the crowd of eager genin when she heard a quiet snort.

"_You'll find out why it's called the Forest of Death!_ Puh-lease, spare me." A young male genin, his mouth suddenly bigger than his brain, commented with bored finality. He was dressed in long, tan cargo pants with heavy pockets weighed down by whatever they carried in them and a plain white t-shirt under a royal blue civilian-styled vest that matched the color of his hair exactly, which was brushed back along his skull in a quill-like fashion. Strangely, he had a pair of hitai-ate, strapped to the bicep of each arm and no visible weapons though he wore a heavy belt with seven large latches covering something from view. "You think that's scary?" He scoffed once more, emerald green eyes closing. "I know a puddle of water scarier than you."

Anko's smile widened slowly, her own eyes narrowed into foxish slits. "Huh. You're a spirited one." Her kunai flew silently with her following close behind it. In a sudden blur, she was behind the genin, a fresh kunai ready to plunge into his neck. Her smile turned to a vicious frown as she the faint touch of a pair of weapons pressing against her jugular. She opened her eyes slowly and looked to her right.

The boy's first teammate was the one holding the overly large shuriken the size of a dinner plate with practiced ease, a sharklike grin on his tanned face. He was dressed in a pair of cargo pants that hung with bottoms wide enough to cover the heavy combat boots bedecking his feet. From his build and height, Anko gauged him as a heavy brawler, shorter than the first boy but with a slightly wider build. Good for up-and-front battling, not so much for long distance though his weapon of choice said otherwise. His hair, colored by dye or natural she couldn't tell without further… investigation… was a fine turquoise and cropped short and down in upwards spikes, held better in place by his hitai-ate. It was his eyes that drew her ire though, a familiar shade of amber that stirred an old, painfilled anger deep in her heart though these eyes were far warmer than the ones in her nightmares.

Anko glanced at her left to the third member of the team. She stood as tall as shuriken-boy and wore a skin-tight tube top, color a fine blue, that showed off her above average assets for one only fifteen years old. She wore a pair of short-shorts, also skin-tight and yet strangely modest, that showed off the impressive length of leg she possessed. What was rather odd however, was the fact that she also wore a long traveling cloak that covered her back all the way down to her ankles and a war-helmet that was decorated with a pair of horns that pointed back at a 45 degree angle. Her blazing red hair fall past her shoulders in silky waves and her red eyes were narrowed dangerously. However, it was her weapon that caught Anko's attention for while it was a sword, it wasn't like any she had seen before. Straight with a wide blade with the hilt shaped like a curled serpent's tail while the crossguard was shaped like those demonic dragons of the western lands, dark obsidian eyes glaring on ruby encrusted skin.

"That's far enough lady," spoke the brawler, his accent thick and reeking of Water Country despite what the hitai-ate he wore said. "Though he acts before he thinks, I'm sure Sokudo meant no offense." _For the most part…_

"So please, step away from our friend." Red spoke with a voice that could be considered almost fangirlish were it not so serious.

Sokudo snickered, shooting a smirk at the redhead and bluenette. "C'mon you guys." He grinned, revealing sparkling white teeth. "I'm not so stupid as to get myself into a situation like this unarmed." Anko's eyes widened a hair as she felt the tip of a metallic claw poking through the links of her chainmail. She performed a quick replacement with a flurry of leaves and reappeared back at the podium. For a moment, she looked incredibly angry, angry enough to flunk the trio of genin, but then she started to smile.

Worse, she started to _laugh_.

"Well, well…" Her eyes went to the hitai-ate the team wore. "Man's Shadow indeed… Looks like we have a lot of blood thirsty ones in this test." She didn't miss the snort or looks aimed at the leading members of the two Jin'eigakure genin teams and her smile only grew. "Hehehe… this should be fun."

By his own team, Naruto suppressed the urge to shiver uncontrollably. '_Oh kami-sama… there's _two_ of them…!_'

"Now, before we start the second test there's something I have to pass out." Anko held up a small stack of papers, earning much confusion amongst the crowd of genin. "You must sign these agreement forms." Still some confusion. '_Kids these days…_'

"There will be deaths in this one and if I don't have you sign these it will all be my responsibility, hehe." Anko relished the looks she was getting and she hadn't even gotten to the best part yet! Oh she was going to make these kids shit their pants in fear!

* * *

"This is it. This is where we make or break." Ardiendo whispered to his two teammates as they stood in front of their gate.

"Think we can trust Uzumaki-san to handle himself?" asked Mana.

"Puh-lease!" snorted Ushio, smiling despite the situation they were about to enter themselves in. "It's _Naruto!_"

"Exactly." Ardiendo growled at him. "If he's kept that damnable promise of his…"

"Shit." Ushio winced before crouching down low to the ground, weapon held tightly in his hand as though he were prepared to run with everything he had. "Straight to him then?" Ardiendo considered the idea, going through every possible path he could imagine before shaking his head.

"No. We'll grab the scroll we need and get to the tower as fast as we can. The sooner we finish this test the better." His eyes drifted to the team nearest to them, a faint scowl on his face at their obvious excitement of being 'let loose' in the oncoming exam.

"Why? If we get to the tower, it's not like we can just go trapezing back out should something happen." Ushio said. "We've five days to get a scroll and get to the tower. The proctor never said anything about going _back_ into the forest."

"Probably thinks that no one would _want_ to…" said Mana, looking uneasily into the shadowed wood with a shiver up her spine. Subconciously she knew that, in those woods, she would not be the only thing of a, ahem, larger stature. "And what about Sabaku-san?" she asked, looking back down at her teammates. "Shouldn't we do something about him?"

Ardiendo shook his head and sighed. "Right now, it's too risky. Remember what Lotus said…?"

Mana nodded, sparing a glance to the east where she had could easily see the Grass team going towards their gate. "Anguis in herba…"

* * *

Mink nervously played with a lock of her hair, constantly looking back over her shoulder towards where she had seen the others had gone. "Can't I just—"

"For the last time, Ardiendo will be fine, even without his salamander." Kodou sighed for what felt like the thousandth time, wondering silently to himself why he had to have end up with the jerk's girlfriend on his team. "He's the leader of Team Zwei for a reason, Mink. Don't worry."

"Besides," grinned Sokudo as he went through his stretches, eagerly awaiting for the gate to open with his usual impatience. "I can go and grab them a scroll too. Not only will it take a sonic second, it'll be a record for the ages!"

"I told you, you can grab as many scrolls as you want but we can't go and finish the test so quickly!" snapped Kodou. "That psycho proctor might find it a little suspicious if both teams from Jin'eigakure finish her exam in less than five freaking minutes!"

"Well you can't expect me to just run around a forest for five days! Talk about boring." Sokudo crossed his arms over his chest, looking smug as he believed himself victorious with the arguement.

"And you'd rather spend it inside a tower?" Now properly deflated, Sokudo grumbled under his breath some but looked agreeable for the most part. Still, Kodou felt he needed a bit more convincing. "You could try and check up on Naruto if you want. Try and refrain from calling him Nine-tails this time though?"

Sokudo smiled, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry. He's a lot like—" The gates mechanically swung and Sokudo's attention was suddenly realigned with a shining excitement in his emerald eyes. He grabbed onto his teammates' wrists, locking hands with practiced ease. "And we're up…"

"Oh no…" moaned Mink.

"Over…" Sokudo's feet became a blur as he started revving up, his red shoes creating a strange figure-eight beneath him as the wind began to dance beneath his feet while lightning began to make his already pointy hair sharpen into hard-as-steel quills.

"You idiot, don't you dare—!" started Kodou.

"And gone!"

A thundercrash and Team Saga was gone into the forest, a massive wind left in their wake as the sound barrier shattered behind them.

* * *

Mana shouldered her handsaw with a weary sigh, staring down at the comatose Rock ninjas with a small frown on her face. "Did you have to stick that giant leech on the boy with the bug phobia's face, Ardiendo-kun?"

"No. No, not really." Ardiendo shrugged as he frisked through the captured team's stuff, taking whatever he could find as valuable. The leech was a least a lot smaller than the rest of the swarm, it likely wouldn't kill the boy anytime soon.

"You scare me sometimes, you know that right?" asked Ushio, shooting a half-lidded glare at the taller boy as he finished wrapping up his weapon and pull the cord good and tight lest the cloth get loose. Wouldn't do for anyone to see his weapon of choice before the battle after all.

"I take it then that you don't want any of the money I found in their wallets then?" A devious smirk lit Ardiendo's lips as he held up a small wad of bills.

"In this kind of situation, scary can be good." Ushio was suddenly kneeling next to Ardiendo, eagerly frisking a wallet of his own. "Oh, Shinobi Mastercard… nice."

Mana shook her head, sighing to herself. '_Boys…_'

* * *

A crash of thunder from a cloudless night sky startled the Waterfall genin awake and sent them stumbling down from their hideaway amidst the leaves of the forest canopy. Rushing to their feet, the three looked around for any obvious sign of attack but none came save for another sudden boom of thunder, this one much closer than before.

A sudden flash of light as all the trio had as warning as a bolt of lightning lit up the forest, traveling not in the open air but close to the earth, sending errant pebbles and leaves upwards in smoking bursts. They stood back-to-back as the lightning swirled around them in a large circle before veering off and disappearing into the trees. They stood cautiously, waiting to see if the hidden ninja, one from Cloud most likely, would strike at them again to make up for the obvious miss but no other attack came save for the echoing thunder and the crackling laughter of vanishing lightning.

It wouldn't be until that next morning the genin team would find themselves empty of their wallets.

Oh, and their collection of scrolls too.

* * *

"I swear on the Atlantic, if you don't stop pacing around like that, I'll tie you to a tree!" exclaimed Kodou, startling poor Mink from her agitated pacing.

"I can't help it!" she exclaimed. "Sokudo's been gone for—

"Three minutes!" retorted Kodou. "Barely stretching his legs, damn it! He's fine, your boy is fine, his team is fine, we're all damn fine!"

"Hmph! Fine!" Mink stopped her pacing and leant against a large rock with all the regality she could muster, crossing her arms under her bosom and glaring up at the sky, away from Kodou. "Happy?"

"Immensely. Now, if Sokudo would just—"

"Show up with three sets of scrolls minus one!" A crash of thunder as the winds blew past like a mighty gale. Sokudo stood atop the boulder that Mink was leaning on, droping a pair of said scrolls atop her helmeted head and tossing another to Kodou.

"How many teams did you steal from?" asked Kodou, placing the two scrolls with the one of their own as Mink placed her own away into the sealing arrays hidden in the folds of her cloak.

"Borrowed, and just two surprisingly enough. They didn't even realize what I did but I'm sure they'll find out—"

"YOU IDIOT!" The sound of a very painful slap to the face echoed from the forest some distance away.

Sokudo grinned, completely unrepentant. "Least it's not a hammer."

Kodou winced, remembering one particular moment where Mana first experienced the joys of being a woman. "Amen to that…"

Mink rolled her eyes at that. "Boys."

* * *

"Hehe… So the Nine-Tailed Brat lives after all…" The Grass Nin spoke despite having her tongue wrapped tightly around Naruto's torso. Naruto's demonic eyes widened at Grass Nin's words and widened further as her hand moved down towards his stomach, fingers delicately brushing on the ink-like seals that had appeared around Naruto's navel. "When your emotions are heightened… the power of the Nine-Tails overflows through you… very interesting…" The Grass Nin pulled back her other hand, her fingertips aglow with five symbols of sealing.

"Five-Pronged Seal!"

The fingers jabbed themselves painfully into the flesh of Naruto's stomach, the seals burning past skin and muscle and into his very soul as a beast of terrible power screamed in agony behind the doors of its domain. A scream only heard by the sharpest of ears, by those who walked a world apart from those unawares of the darkness and they who dwelled in the swirling shadows between the dusk and the dawn.

* * *

"NARUTO!"

_

* * *

To Be Continued..._

**

* * *

**

TRANSLATIONS:

_"Anguis in herba…"_ LATIN: "A snake in the grass..."

* * *

**On the next road…  
**

_Run Like the Wind  
_


	4. Run Like the Wind

DISCLAIMER: I OWN WHAT IS MY OWN.

* * *

**No Free Ride to Redemption**

By Corvus no Genmu

_"Run Like the Wind"_

Shining emerald eyes glowed brightly, no pupil in sight in their glimmering orbs as they stared down the trio of ninja before it. A long tongue slithered out between gleaming fangs, flowing along hungry chops. The azure quils adorning the monster's back quivered with anticipation as its doglike tail wagged in the air behind it. The tanned fur of its chest puffed up as it took a deep breath of air before unleashing a mighty howl into the night. Its ears cocked to and fro, its quilled head tilting to look up at the rising moon before an answering roar echoed from deep within the shadowed wood. The beast's lips pulled back into a canine smile before it took off into the underbrush, vanishing with a sonic boom in its wake.

* * *

Mink coughed and massaged her throat, wincing at the pain. Ardiendo wordlessly handed her a canteen and she took it with a grateful smile and a blush on her face. She leaned back into the tree's trunk and sighed tiredly, wishing there was less room so she'd have opportunity to cuddle with Ardiendo rather than sharing the perch together with room to spare.

The boy in question spared the redhead a small smile before turning his attention back once more to Kodou. "Think that scared the scavengers away?"

Kodou grunted, "I think so… Oi, Ushio? Sense anyone coming this way?"

"That trio from Sound has stopped but I think they're just camping for the night…" Ushio had his eyes closed as he stretched his senses further. He frowned suddenly. "Well that's weird… there's a genin team from Leaf that's splitting up."

Kodou and Ardiendo both exchanged looks. "What's so weird about that?" asked Kodou.

"They might be checking the area over before they set up their camp." Ardiendo suggested.

Ushio shook his head. "Well, why are two of them sticking together and the third one's heading this way?"

Ardiendo frowned at that, "Which way?"

"That's the weird part… he's coming from the opposite way of the tower…" Ushio opened his eyes, scowling angrily. "I think he's the spy we were warned about."

"No shit." Kodou grunted, preparing to jump down to the ground below. "I'm going to sleep, wake me when my turn comes." He started to jump down and paused. "Wake Mana up with me, and I'll shove a shuriken where a shuriken ought not to be shoved." With that final word said, Kodou leapt down to the ground.

Ushio watched him fall, shaking his head. "I think I'm going to go higher up, I don't want to know more than I already do about those two." He grinned suddenly at Ardiendo. "It's a good excuse to leave you two alone too don't you think?"

Ardiendo's eyes narrowed but Ushio was up and away into the forest canopy before he could say anything to disapprove his teammate's words. The ashen-haired genin sighed to himself, looking out into the forest before shooting a discrete glance at the sleeping Mink.

"Hmmm… Ardi-kun…" He glanced down and saw that, while still asleep, Mink was calling for him. "Don't go away again… please… don't go…"

'_Aw geez…_' Looking about carefully, he shuffled a bit closer to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. '_Idiot will fall off if I don't hold on, yeah that'll work._'

"I'm not going anywhere, Mink," he said. '_Not without you and everyone else in our ragtag family._'

"Mmm… promise of a lifetime…?"

He chuckled, pulling her closer to him. "Promise of a lifetime…"

* * *

Dosu cursed himself, he was being too arrogant and gave the pink-headed twit too little credit. Useless and weak she might be, but to have made a trap, false or otherwise, to cover the more dangerous one was nothing short of ingenius. Annoying as hell but ingenius nonetheless. Pressing his gauntlet-covered hand to the trunk and pushing enough chakra into the instrument, Dosu shattered a hole large enough for he and his team to jump through. Of course, by doing this he made it all the more easier for someone else to do the exact same thing. It was like a sudden tornado, a small-scale twister appearing out of nowhere and flying along a horizontal path straight towards the Sound team.

They were slammed into the ground with earth trembling force as their attacker bounced back to stand between them and their target, growling with deep emerald eyes shining brightly in the canopy-shrouded daylight. Sakura stiffened a terrified scream as the creature turned its canine-like head to face her before turning its attentions back to her attackers.

Zaku was glaring at the beast with obvious anger in his eyes though he kept both his hands up in preparation for attack. Dosu was holding up his Melody Arm, though his other arm was held loosely at his side with a grimace of pain. As for the kunoichi, Kin… she was shuffling backwards with wide, terrified eyes as blood drained from her face until she was as pale as the dead. Her shoulders were trembling and she looked close to tears at the sight of the monster, a beast she knew all too well from her old home region.

It was a terrible beast standing taller than all of the genin present but not much more so than a full grown adult at the height of its shoulder. It stood on all four limbs and resembled a terrible fusion between hound, cat, and hedgehog for while it had the typical lean body of a cheetah fused with a greyhound, the beast also had a vast mane of quills running from the top of its canine head down to the tip of its doggy-tail in one long stripe. Its claws were sharp as knives as the gripped the earth and it turned its head this way and that as though taking stocking of the situation in a strangely human manner. Adorning its neck was a golden collar with seven hidden latches covering the true treasure beneath.

Kin felt her insides turn to ice for she knew well of the beast for it was a legend in her old home in the Land of Earth. A creature who ran like lightning over the earth, a beast with pupil-less eyes that shined like fine emeralds and fur like soft azure, a wild and untamed monster who answered to no master, a demonic equal to Konoha's Yellow Flash who earned the name of, "The Azure Wind… Sonikku."

Long ears twitched at the softly spoken words and pure emerald eyes turned to face the kunoichi that spoke them. The monster cocked its head before its lips pulled back in a massive feral grin, revealing a jaw full of nothing but sharp fangs.

"What are you on Kin?" growled Zaku, taking half-a-step back as the Azure Wind's eyes, as best as he could tell, fell back upon him. "It's probably some kind of summons, we can take it easily!"

To her mounting horror, the Azure Wind took no offense to Zaku's stupidity. It did not snarl in anger, it did not move to strike her teammate down like the arrogant idiot that he was, it did something worse.

It _laughed._

It was not a terrible sound, not in the least, it was rather like an odd fusion of a bark and huff with a strange sort of snicker at the end. Zaku thought the beast was laughing at him and he'd be only partially right. Dosu thought the creature insane, deranged in its existence and its way of thinking, and he wasn't anywhere on the mark. Kin believed the Azure Wind to be amused, even delighted with the three of them, like a cat with a new ball of yarn to play with.

And she was right.

The Azure Wind crouched low to the ground as though in a bow before it suddenly was curled in a tight ball that spun in place with increasing speed. The ground beneath it tore up as a a massive cloud of dirt formed behind the spinning ball of sharpened quills before it suddenly took off, straight towards Zaku. The stunned genin just barely managed to launch a wind attack against the rushing Sonikku but all he did was send the spinball airborne, something that Kin instantly knew would spell their doom.

Laughing once more, the spinball of spikes began to ricochet from tree to tree until there was not but hazy shades of blue surrounding the Sound Trio as the Azure Wind increased the power behind each bounce until it reached a speed beyond human perception. Once it reached such an excess, it bounced back towards the tree that provided haven for Team 7 during the previous night and ricocheted once more straight towards Team Dosu with force of a wrecking ball.

Ever see what happens to a trio of pins when hit dead center by a bowling ball? Make that bowling ball reach supersonic speeds and you'll have a faint inkling of the damage done to the Sound Trio. Needless to say, Konoha was treated to the phenomenon of daytime stars twinkling out of sight.

The Azure Wind stood calmly, dust and debris falling like snow around it as it gazed upwards in the direction it sent the Sound Trio before looking back at the stunned Sakura. It slowly turned and started walking towards her and her unconscious teammates and, as though waking from a stupor, Sakura quickly grabbed her kunai and held it up in a standard defensive hold. "St-Stay away!"

Sonikku paused for a moment and in the instant that she blinked, the pinkette found herself nose-to-snout with the Azure Wind. She screamed and jerked back, but managed to keep her grip on her kunai though her fearful shivering could no longer be hidden from obvious sight. Sonikku snickered at her reaction and looked down at her two comatose teammates that, to her mounting horror, Sakura had inadvertently placed between herself and the Azure Wind.

The blue beast took note of the steam rising from the burning mark adorning the Uchiha's neck, a frown on its muzzle, before looking to the blonde Uzumaki. Its frown deepened as it lowered its head to sniff at the boy's hair before sitting back on its haunches in confusion. It slowly raised a paw and rested the appendage lightly on the boy's shirt, pushing it up his chest until his navel was exposed. The Azure Wind's eyes gained an ethereal glow as strangely colored chakra gathered in its paw.

It watched in revered silence as an inky black seal painted itself around the boy's bellybutton until, with a sudden flare of purple fire, five new seals appeared like burnt marks around the swirl, like dark sentries that did more harm than good. Emerald eyes widened in shock as the paw pulled back, chakra and seal vanishing with the motion. Sonikku stared in silence for a moment before its eyes narrowed dangerously, a black aura appearing around it as the quills on its back started to darken into a purplish shade at the tips. A kunai came flying at it, bouncing away uselessly against the black aura but the hit was enough to snap Sonikku out of it.

It shook its head suddenly and the aura disappated, the quills fading back to their true blue shade. It looked to a quivering, weaponless Sakura before bobbing its head as a sign of thanks. The Azure Wind looked back down at Naruto and placed a paw on the blonde's shoulder, its head bowed as though in prayer. Sakura blinked in confusion and gasped in shock as the beast was suddenly gone. She hurried over to her teammates, checking first upon Sasuke before her attention at last went to Naruto though it was with hesitation.

Why did that monster have such a strange interest in the idiot blonde? What was that seal that appeared on Naruto's stomach, it wasn't like anything she had ever read about in her old schoolbooks! It looked immensely complicated and she knew that the more complicated a seal, the more powerful it was. So it begged the question, just what did Naruto do to have such a powerful seal placed upon him, a seal that earned the attentions of both a S-ranked missing-nin and a powerful demon at that?

So immersed in her flood of questions and doubts, Sakura never noticed the emergency pack she had placed in the far back of the burrow was now full once more with three extra editions to its weight. A pair of scrolls, one inscribed with the symbol of "earth" and the other the one for "heaven". Last but not least, there was a small golden ring, perfectly carved and smooth like porcelain, too big to be worn but too small to be obtrusive.

* * *

Kodou's right eye twitched and he held up a hand. "Wait."

Behind him, Mink blinked. "What is it?" There were in sight of the tower after all and on the second day it was highly unlikely that any other team beside the Sand Trio had made it here before them, even if to just set up an ambush.

"My idiot senses are tingling…" muttered Kodou.

"See it's stuff like that, that makes me think you are related to Yami after all!" Sokudo leapt down from the trees to land before the pair. "Wassup?"

"Is that all you have to say?" snapped Kodou. "You were supposed to meet up with us and Team Zwei at daybreak! What the hell happened?!"

"Stuff mostly… Kicked some butt, nearly got eaten by the local wildlife, met a cute redhead." Sokudo shrugged, ignoring Kodou's growing ire with a laidback grin. He suddenly turned serious as he remembered. "We need to see Lotus-sensei ASAP."

"Lotus-sensei… as in _our_ Lotus-sensei." Kodou asked, disbelief evident in his voice.

"Chaos as my witness there better not be more than one." Sokudo shivered at that thought.

"Why do we need to see Lotus-sensei, Sokudo-kun?" asked Mink. '_Considering she's scares the beejesus out of us!_' was left unsaid.

"Something happened to Naruto's team, something big." Sokudo glanced up at the camera hidden in the trunk of a nearby tree and leaned forward. "Furry wise that is."

"Shit…" Kodou cursed. Sighing resignedly to himself he asked, "Did you tell the salamander and his team?"

"Dropped them off before I came to get you guys, yeah." He held out his hands to his teammates. "So, all aboard the Supersonic Express!"

With a pained grimace on their faces, Mink and Kodou did so, pushing as much chakra as they dared into their arms lest Sokudo pull them loose from their sockets as he took off towards the tower at soundbreaking speed. Once was bad enough, four times would be just be embarrassing.

* * *

In the lands of the Elemental Countries from the top tiers like Fire or Lightning to the smaller territories like Grass or Snow, there is little to no clear distinction between humanity. That is to say, that appearance meant little to anyone in the Elemental Countries as, in a world so confined as it was, the difference between two people by their skin, their hair, or anything else was of little concern or consequence, unless it was an appearance born by a special bloodline limit, then it was really anyone's guess.

They who possessed powerful bloodline limits were feared and revered for while the average ninja was indeed a powerful adversary, one blessed by the mutagenic gift to ignore the rules of life and make the impossible possible. A bloodline user could do thinks inconceivable except in one's wildest dreams… or darkest nightmares.

Bloodline limits, especially the more powerful ones, almost always come with a physical alteration. Some of these alterations were minute; an odd coloration of the hair or eyes which, in a world where pink hair was perfectly natural, was not much to go on. Some were so obvious it was hard to perceive them as even being human for these differences are as extreme as extra limbs or even the scales and gills of a predatorial fish.

All these strange faces, all these unique people, some feared, some hated, some even revered as godsend, were all human and no matter how some denied it otherwise, that was always the one truth associated with them. No one person, with a bloodline limit or without, was ever truly thought to be anything beyond human even the cursed jinchuuriki are perceived as demons given pure human form and thus as weak as mortal flesh and blood.

In the case of one Lotus Sylvanas… that was most certainly not the case.

Possessing an ethereal beauty that bordered on something beyond mortal possibility, with long hair that flowed like fresh honey down her back, framing a face carved from the finest of porcelain and colored pure ivory. Her choice of drss was strange, foreign beyond measure for the materials were soft as silk yet harder than steel, all colored in forest shades but revealing a generous amount of flesh, particularly around the midriff and thighs. Her feet were bare though they were unmarked from travel as though the dusty roads dared not mark such dainty toes.

At first glance, it was as though an angel had stepped down from heaven to walk amongst mortal men and really how could one be blamed to believe so when Lotus' back was weighed with a small pair of iridescent wings of fine emerald and pearl colored feathers. However, it was her ears that truly gave the idea its merits for her ears with long and pointed, just like the legends told. Of angels bearing long ears to better hear the words of Heaven.

To one who had only just met Lotus, who would only see her as a passerby and to never see her again, they would think her an angel. To those who dealt with her on a daily basis, well, it was bit more simple than that…

"You are one evil bitch." Razin growled, earning a saucy smile from Lotus that, to anyone who didn't know her as Razin did, would seem almost sweet.

"But I'm your bitch." Lotus smirked up at the man who now sported a hand-shaped bruise on his right cheek. That's what he deserved for starting a conversation by pinching her butt as a way to say 'Hello'!

"Sadly yes. OW! For the hoard, woman!" Razin bent down as far as he could as the shorter woman had a firm grip over his ear. "Just what is your problem anyway?!"

"My _problem_ my sweet Serpent King, has something to do with a lost puppy." Lotus sneered. In the privacy of their room in the Forest of Death's lone tower, and with some privacy seals in place, there was no need for her to keep up her sweet and innocent act.

"Well whose fault is that?!" snarled Razin, holding his pointer and middle finger to his nose in a familiar sign. "Didn't you _See_ it coming?"

Lotus released her grip on the jonin's ear and turned away with an angry huff. "I wasn't _Looking_!" She responded smartly back, mimicking the sign with her own hand, catching a sudden glimpse and her shoulders slowly sagged, slumping down to her knees as she finally allowed herself to relax. "He's okay…" Razin's arms carefully wrapped around her torso and when she didn't hit or yell at him in response to the act, pulled her close to him, resting his head atop her own. She leaned back, feeling the familiar warmth of his body. "I still need to look at what that vampiric pedophile did to him but…"

"He'll be fine." Razin reassured his volatile girlfriend and sensei to Team Saga. That reminded him… he still owed his brats a good training exercise (read: _beat the ever-living crap out of them_) for leaving their childish partners behind while they went gallivanting through a training ground that rightfully earned the name Forest of Death. "You up to scaring the shit out of our students?"

"Razin!" Lotus spoke as though scandalized before an utterly evil smirk lit on her rosy lips. "You have to ask?"

_

* * *

_

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

**On the next road…  
**

_Elimination Proclamation_

_

* * *

_

**AN:** For a the inspiration behind Sonikku the Azure Wind check out "Built for Speed" by umbra-rockchick on DeviantArt._  
_


	5. Elimination Proclamation

DISCLAIMER: I OWN WHAT IS MY OWN.

* * *

**No Free Ride to Redemption**

By Corvus no Genmu

_"Elimination Proclamation"_

Ardiendo watched with little interest as the sensei of Team 7 appeared at Sasuke's side and vanished just as quickly after the boy's victory over the chakra-vampire. Well, not a literal vampire but the older genin's bloodline allowed him to absorb chakra with but a mere touch of the hand. If he trained hard enough, Ardiendo had little doubt that it would only be a matter of proximity for Yoroi to be a deadly opponent to average ninjas. As it was, the ashen-haired genin wondered how the chakra-sucker would fare against someone with more chakra than he.

He almost wished the rest of his and Kodou's team could take part in the prelims but with so many teams having survived the second test, more were needed to give-up before continuing further. Well, to be fair, Mana and Mink did not want to 'lay the smackdown' on anyone who wasn't an enemy and Ushio hated fighting normal humans and went out of his way to avoid such mishaps if he could. As for Sokudo… fastest ninja in all of the Elemental Countries he might be but patient he was not. He was gone before the Hokage was halfway through his introductory speech.

Now he stood before his opponent wondering just how much his team and Kodou's involvement in the Chunin Exams had changed things. Both teams had been told of what would happen were they not to go to Konoha and participate as a form of needless incentive. Two of the nine were here, one who was welcomed and the other waiting for an invite, so there was little else needed to be said. Through the depths of Hell to the gates of Heaven, for family they would go anywhere.

Still… it was surprising that his opponent would be none other than Dosu, the mummy-like leader of the Sound Team, the same team that had nearly done in Naruto's when they were down. Ardiendo hadn't the chance to do anything about him before but now, here he was right before him as his opponent.

He did not know what he did to deserve this but he was damned sure he was going to do it as often as he could if opportunities like this would reoccur!

"I suppose there's a strange form of irony at play here." Ardiendo spoke up as he and Dosu began to slowly circle each other.

"Oh? I'm afraid I don't see it." Dosu made sure to keep his weaponized arm between him and Ardiendo, ready for any trick he might pull.

"It's too long a story for one such as you. To put it simply; today is the day you die!" Ardiendo moved in a sudden burst of speed and pressed the attack upon Dosu whose arm flared with an influx of chakra as sonic waves danced through the Melody Arm. Ducking beneath a high kick that'd likely break his neck if it connected, Dosu bounced upwards on his feet, his fist just barely wooshing along Ardiendo's exposed throat and, using his momentum, spun tightly and landed an almost jyuken-style strike to Ardiendo's heart.

Both combatants froze and Dosu smiled with a predatorial shine in his eye, his finger tapping lightly against the Melody Arm. "What was that you were saying about my demise?"

Ardiendo didn't answer, didn't move, didn't do anything. For a moment Dosu wondered if the genin was now fully deaf or had managed a sonic strike strong enough to stop his heart when Ardiendo suddenly smiled as beams of light began to pierce his flesh from within.

"_Boom._"

The word so softly spoken was nothing compared to the real thing, an explosion of such magnitude that it shook the tower like an earthquake and sent many ears ringing from the thunderous roar. The arena was a veritable sea of smoke and dust and excluding the dying echoes of the exploding clone, there was naught but silence.

There came a sudden roar and the center of the smoke cloud exploded outwards as a towering inferno soared up to the ceiling and spread out along its surface. As suddenly as the attack appeared, it ended and with the flames demise so too did the smoke at last disappate. In the center of the arena stood Ardiendo looking none the worse for wear though he seemed rather out of breath. He gazed upwards and took a couple steps back just in time for Dosu to land on the floor in front of him.

Or rather, what was left of Dosu.

With a loud clatter, the young genin's charbroiled bones fell to the floor in a small pile with his skull landing at the top before the melted remains of the Melody Arm came crashing down, crushing the skull and bones to pieces beneath its weight. Ardiendo stared down at the remains, shaking his head sadly. '_You were dead either way, Dosu. By my hand or another's, you wouldn't live beyond the next month… At least this death was a merciful one, compared to what would have been… Oh yes…_' He held out his hand just in time to catch Dosu's wallet, whistling at the amount of cash therein.

'_To the victor go the spoils_.' Counting his new acquisition, Ardiendo made way to join his watching teammates when he felt more than saw the gaze of Gaara upon him. He turned to meet his stare without fear or pause, merely arcing an eyebrow as though amused by the younger boy's attention. Though unfelt by him, Ardiendo was well aware of the spike of killing intent directed at the Ichibi jinchuuriki if only by his eyes immediately shifting towards his sensei, Razin. The staring contest continued until, at last, Gaara backed down and looked away, silently promising the demon within him the glorious blood it desired, though it may well be his own blood that would be paid.

* * *

Kodou watched in silence as the swirly-eyed Akimichi was taken away by Konoha's medic-nin. Though it would likely never occur in day-to-day conversation if one were to ask Kodou just what a match between a Akimichi and a Wind Mistress of Suna. Well it'd start with comparing a rubber ball and a paddle-stick and end with something akin to a bowling ball being hurled at neck-breaking speeds toward a wall. Either way, two of the three Sand genin were now in the final running and Kodou had no doubt that the third would join them.

"Tenten vs Kodou Gyorai."

"Hrm? A girl?" Kodou looked over to his right and saw a girl with her hair done in traditional ox-horns and wearing a pretty pink oriental dress. She had also apparently heard him as she was glaring at him.

"Whether you're a boy or a girl means nothing on the battlefield!" She proclaimed as she leapt down to the arena.

"Should it?" He asked as a retort, following after her. "Wishy-washy she might be at times, my girl can and has kicked my ass, and don't get me started on how Mink has the Salamander-teme wrapped around her fingers."

"Fuck you too, Seaweed-Sucker."

"You wish, Brimstone-Smoker!"

"Sea-Snake!"

"Charcoal-Newt!"

"Dolphin-Eater!"

"Come down here and say that to my _face_!"

"Why don't _you_ come up here?!"

"COUGH!" Hayate interrupted the two way name-calling before it got further out of hand seeing as both their sensei were pretending to not know either of their genin. "If we could get started? Cough."

"Ah, yeah." Kodou nodded before looking back at Tenten, who was slightly peeved at being ignored by the foreign ninja. "So… Weapons Mistress Tenten, huh?"

That earned a wide-eyed surprise from the girl with a dash of pink blush. "Yo-You know me?"

"As loud as your sensei is how can anyone not?" deadpanned Kodou earning an embarrassed chuckle from Tenten. "Well then, shall we begin?" His hands blured and Tenten bent backwards to feel the passing breeze of the shuriken flying past her. Using her momentum, the kunoichi fell back into a handstand and pushed herself up high as more shuriken flew through to air to impact the walls. Tenten twisted tightly in midair, spinning quickly as she unleashed a volley of shuriken and kunai of various size and shape back at Kodou who dodged first to the left and followed with a sharp leap-and-roll forward, launching more shuriken as he did so.

Tenten landed lightly on her feet, facing his back with a brilliant smile on her face. One would think she'd be mad as her opponent made her spectacular accuracy look amateurish but it was far from the case. Thanks to her teammates, particular the miniature clone of her eccentric sensei, Tenten recognized speed when she saw it and while Kodou was certainly no Rock Lee, he was quick on his feet and able to dish out as many shuriken in a single toss as she. In point of fact… She frowned as she took stock that for all the shuriken he threw, none of them could have hit her in the least. Every single of Kodou's shuriken were impaled into the walls of the arena at the exact same distance and length and for the life of her, Tenten couldn't understand the strategy behind them.

"There's a saying in most coastal villages…" said Kodou as he turned to face his opponent. "About how when you enter the ocean… you enter the foodchain." Tenten's eyes, once narrowed in confusion, were now wide with horrified disbelief as Kodou's hands came together. "Here's my new combination! Water Release! Great Wave Explosion!"

The five-pronged shuriken flashed brightly as the black seals coating their bladed tips released their payload upon the arena. Hundreds of gallons of water filled the arena in a sudden wave that hit the two combatants with the force of a sledgehammer. The waves slowed to an ebb, the waters dark even in the bright lights of the arena. Tenten suddenly broke the surface, gasping for air before she focused enough on her chakra to at least propel her closer toward the second level which now was the only level in the flooded arena. Her clothes were dry-clean only and this was her favorite shirt too. There was no way it could get any worse.

Oh ye of little faith…

Something grabbed onto her ankle and Tenten had time enough to gasp for air just before she was pulled under. The water's surface slowed to a strange smoothness despite whatever actions were occurring beneath. Dark shapes could be seen moving within the inky depths and the occasional shuriken came hurtling forth with deadly abandon to strike the high ceiling above. The miniature lake stilled once more before the water slowly began to swirl in place with increasing speed until a massive whirlpool was in place. There was a sound like a flush as the water drained away to reveal a soaking wet Kodou with an unconscious, and equally wet, Tenten at his feet.

"See, that's the difference between you and me, Brimstone-Breath." Kodou pulled out a kunai and spun it lightly on his finger. "I make this shit look good."

* * *

Naruto looked rather grim, rather uncharacteristic of himself to be sure but then he had every reason to be. There was something… _wrong_ with him. Okay, depending on who you asked Naruto was sure some could come up with whole lists of what was wrong with him, some petty and others genuine, but this was something more serious than his fashion-sense, or apparent lack thereof. He felt… empty… yeah, that was the appropriate word for it. Oh he was still full of energy like he had swallowed one cup-of-joe too many, not that anyone would let him touch the stuff the stingy bastards, but it was like… half the water had been drawn out of the well and nothing was refilling it. His chakra was, for whatever reason, barely at half-capacity.

And for a guy that tosses chakra like perverts worship Icha Icha, that was a major problem.

But he wouldn't lose, not when he had struggled so much to get here, not with everyone watching.

"I feel bad for you." Kiba smirked, lifted up a hand and clutching it tightly to make a fist. "So I'll end it with one punch!"

"Is that so…" Naruto carefully reached up and unzipped his orange jacket. His usual foxy grin in place, Naruto held the jacket up to the confused Kiba. "Then I guess I'll have to take you seriously!"

"You?" Kiba snorted in disbelief, chuckling as though Naruto had told him a joke. "That's a laugh! You're the deadlast, do you honestly think you can win?"

"Truthfully… no. I don't think I can win." He tossed the jacket aside. The jacket crashed to the ground with a loud thud, raising up a cloud of dust from the impact. "I _know_ I can."

Kurenai's eyes were wide with surprise as she stared down at the article of clothing, or rather, what was sitched onto the inside. '_Gravity seals… how did he—_' She turned her eyes to Kakashi, knowing full well who his sensei was. '_Fool! That kind of weight would kill anyone else!_'

Kakashi himself was surprised and rightfully so but he seemed strangely satisified as well. '_So he had a reason for that outfit after all…_' Still it begged the question, '_But who made those seals for him?_'

Kiba himself was surprised but he got over it quickly. "You think dropping a couple of pounds makes you as fast as me?! As if!"

"Let's find out!" Naruto shot forward at impossible speeds, landing a punch to Kiba's face that sent the feral ninja flying hard. He impacted against the wall and would have fallen to the floor had not a pair of Naruto clones appeared at either side. Trading mad grins, the first pulled a double-fist hammerstrike to Kiba's back while the other backflipped and kicked Kiba hard in the chin. Kiba literally spun from the attack before both clones pulled back a leg and kicked Kiba straight towards the original who had two other clones standing just in front of him and to the side.

The moment the flying Kiba came between them, the two clones shot straight at him and kicked Kiba straight up into the air. The clones then raced back to the original Naruto and with a double-handed toss, sent Naruto straight up after Kiba. Flying past him, Naruto looked down at Kiba and, grinning like a mad fool, pulled a large ball out of nowhere. A ball wrapped by dozens of explosive notes all set to explode at the slightest impact. Naruto waited until Kiba was just a few feet beneath him before pulling the ball back.

Kiba's eyes widened. "You—!"

"_Ball-a-Boom!_" He shot the ball down straight at Kiba who caught it straight in the stomach.

The notes went off in a combined explosion that created a massive fireball in midair. A charbroiled and blissfully unconscious Kiba landed hard to the ground before an equally singed and unconscious Akamaru landed right on Kiba's face in a rather compromising position.

"Oh please tell me someone's got a camera!" Hayate turned and saw Naruto standing where Akamaru had been, looking none the worse for wear, if only a little of breath. The Special Jonin looked at his watch and couldn't help the small smile. '_The deadlast finishes his match in under thirty seconds… verbal sparring notwithstanding. Not bad, kid. Not bad at all._'

Naruto looked up at the stunned onlookers, the brightness back in his smile as he was declared the winner of his match. Narrowed as they were, no one saw how the Konoha genin's eyes drifted over toward where the genin of Jin'eigakure stood. His smile, unbelievable as it might sound, actually grew at the proud nod he received from Ardiendo and Kodou.

* * *

"You corrupted him," whispered Kodou, for once talking civily with his rival.

Ardiendo shrugged. "Better he follow my example than yours."

"Your examples tend to end with shit blown up and fresh money in your pocket." Kodou scoffed, watching, and wincing, as the match continued on below between the two Hyuuga. He was sure those moves were doing more damage than he could see. "Friggin' klepto-pyromaniac."

"You're one to talk, Seashell-for-brains. What was that earlier with flooding the damn arena? I'm surprised you're still standing." Ardiendo's eyes narrowed at how viciously the branch member was attack the clan heiress. There was something wrong with how much the boy was enjoying this match-up.

"Took a soldier pill beforehand." Kodou answered. "So I'll probably need to sleep for three days rather than a week. That's only if Sensei decides to not take mercy on me."

"He who can't handle his own techniques should not perform them." Lotus replied in response, which translated to: "_You're the idiot who went overboard, deal with it._"

"She's going to lose…" whispered Razin, standing tall over the genin of his village with Lotus at his side, both their eyes on the match below. "She knows that she can't win but still she gets up anyway…"

The final blow came as Neji struck right at Hinata's heart. "You don't understand anything." The Hyuuga genius stepped aside and let Hinata fall to the ground, turning his back on her as he began to walk away. "From the beginning your attacks have done nothing."

Hayate stared after Neji, a disapproving frown on his sickly face. "Continuing is impossible and thus—"

"DON'T STOP IT!" Hayate paused and looked up at Naruto.

"What are you saying you idiot! She's at her limit, she's unconscious!" shrieked his pink-haired teammate but Naruto ignored her and everyone else finally saw what he had already seen.

Her shoulders trembling, her breaths coming in ragged gasps, her body screaming at her to stay down, the pain too much, but she ignored it.

Hinata was standing up.

"Well I'll be damned…" Ardiendo muttered.

"Why do you stand…? If you keep pushing yourself, you'll die…" Neji's tone was controlled as ever, but one could almost hear the faint note of confusion buried beneath the less-hidden disdain.

Hinata was staggering on her feet but she remained upright. "It's not over."

"Acting tough is useless. You can barely stand. From the time of your birth the responsibility of the Hyuuga main house has been forced upon you… You have always hated yourself for your weakness… but people cannot change… that is destiny."

"This guy… is pissing me off…" Kodou growled, his pupils thinning into angry slits.

"There is no need to suffer anymore… Let it go!" Neji glared, not truly caring whether she gave up on her own or not. His victory was assured.

"That's not true, Neji-niisan. Because… I can see it… it's not me at all…" Hinata gasped for breath, looking up to meet her cousin's eyes. "The person lost and suffering within the destiny of the main and branch houses… is you…"

There was an audible snap as the darkness in Neji's eyes grew before he shot forward, this time for the kill.

He never made it.

His sensei had him from behind, Hinata's own had a grip on his left arm while the infamous "Copycat" Kakashi maintained a firm hold on his other arm, the chakra in his hand now fully disrupted. However, it was the man that stood between him and his intended target that had, at long last, surprised the Hyuuga prodigy.

"I understand the jonin of Konoha… But to expect such preferential treatment from the likes of you for the main house…"

Razin smiled in amusement, dark as midnight with canines as sharp as knives. "Non habes iure provocare mihi. Qui non proficit, deficit." At Neji's uncomprehending look, Razin shook his head. "Infinitus est numerous stultorum."

At that moment, Hinata coughed up a lungful of blood and collapsed backwards to be caught in an orange embrace. "Hinata-chan!"

'_N-Naruto-kun…?_' Hinata struggled to keep her eyes open but the pain was too great, her heart was screaming with agony inside her chest. '_Was I able to change… just a little bit…?_'

Naruto carefully set her down on the ground, his eyes never leaving her pale face until Neji suddenly spoke up. "Hey… loser…" Naruto turned his head to glare at Neji, now released and relaxed without the jonin holding him back. "I'd like to tell you two things. If you're a shinobi then cut out the pathetic cheering of others… and one more… In the end, a loser is a loser. They cannot change!"

Naruto rose slowly to his feet as Kurenai knelt down opposite him to check over her student. His eyes became cold, the whisker marks on his face almost quivering. "You wanna test me?"

Neji smirked in reply and Naruto would have charged for him, ready to tear that smug look off along with the rest of Neji's face had Hinata not started coughing once again, more blood coming up with each ragged hack. If anything, Neji's smirk grew at the look of fury from Kurenai. "If you have time to glare at me, then you should be taking care of her."

Naruto growled angrily and watched in silence as Hinata was taken away by the medic-nin. His eyes fell to the ground where a puddle of Hinata's blood still lay. He knelt down and pressed his hand against it, lifting it up in a firm fist, the blood dripping down from tightly clutched fingers. "I promise… I will see you pay for this… That is my promise of a lifetime."

Razin smirked and started heading back up to the observation area when he paused beside Gai. "If I were you, I'd go and hire a Yamanaka." At Gai's confused look, Razin supplied. "You'll need some flowers for your student's funeral I'm sure." Razin laughed as Gai's face paled and he continued on past. He glanced up at the watching Hokage and, seeing his disapproving frown, smiled. '_You don't think him capable, Hiruzen? You forget your people, but soon enough it will not matter. Oderint dum metuant._'

Let them hate, so long as they fear.

* * *

"This will be the layout of the third match of the Chunin Exams." Ibiki held up the sheet of paper with the names of the remaining combants written upon it in a tournament style.

**_Round 1: Naruto Uzumaki vs Neji Hyuuga_**

'…_ Perfect._' Neji smirked. He broke Hinata's spirit now here he was given the chance to break her heart.

'_Immediately against him…_' Naruto shot a dark look at the Hyuuga prodigy, his eyes narrowed and angry. '_Bring it on!_'

**_Round 2: Gaara vs Sasuke Uchiha_**

'_Sasuke… Uchiha…_' Gaara's expression remained impassive but those closest to him could feel the slight rise in his near-constant killing intent.

**_Round 3: Kodou Gyorai vs Kankuro_**

'_Well… at least I'm not in the same block as Gaara…_' Kankuro shot a discreet glance at his soon-to-be opponent. '_Though he's scary in his own way…_'

Kodou himself was grinning, revealing several more canines than average. '_Guess we'll find out if you sink or swim in more ways than one, eh Catboy?_'

**_Round 4: Shikamaru Nara vs Temari_**

'_Another girl? Troublesome…_' Shikamaru's shoulders sagged. '_Not just a girl but a _blonde_… man what a drag…_'

'_I've got to fight against the bum?_' Temari was visibly disgusted at the idea. '_What a drag… oh crap, did I really just think that?_'

**_Round 5: Shino Aburame vs Ardiendo Rugido_**

"…" Shino's head lowered and except for the faint buzzing of insects, he reacted no further.

'_Ah damn… and I wanted to go all out too…_' Ardiendo huffed. He glanced over towards the rest of the chunin hopefuls, his eyes lingering on two in particular. '_The path is about to branch off even more now… which one will you two chose? And what price are you willing to pay to walk down it?_'

_

* * *

_

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

TRANSLATIONS:

_"Non habes iure provocare mihi. Qui non proficit, deficit."_ LATIN: "You don't have the right to provoke me. He who does not accomplish anything, is a failure."

_"Infinitus est numerous stultorum."_ LATIN: "Infinite is the number of fools."

_"Oderint dum metuant" _LATIN: "Let them hate, so long as they fear."

**

* * *

On the next road…  
**

_Approaching Glory_


	6. Approaching Glory

A/N: From this point on, I'll be taking the "traditional" approach to technique naming. Basically, if I can find a Romaji translation for them, the techniques written out as their Japanese names. rather than the English equivalent though a translation can still be found at the bottom of the... chapter-page thing...

DISCLAIMER: I OWN WHAT IS MY OWN.

* * *

**No Free Ride to Redemption**

By Corvus no Genmu

_"Approaching Glory"_

"So… how'd it go?" asked Ushio. The trio known as Team Zwei of Jin'eigakure was sitting together with their comrades and friends of Team Saga in the shade of the trees that decorated Konoha's numerous training grounds, one of the few that were allotted only to the visiting ninjas during the duration of the Chunin Exams.

"Yes, tell us! Who did you fight, Ardi-kun? It wasn't a Leaf genin was it?" asked Mink leaning forward with her hands on her knees as she stared up at him through her lashes.

Ardiendo smiled, well used to Mink's antics by now though he couldn't help the small blush. She was, after all, showing a generous amount of cleavage at him. "I fought against one of the Sound genin. Dosu. Bastard nearly got me with that damn contraption the Snake outfitted him. Created a shadow clone and switched with it just in time to incinerate the cyclops."

"Hmm… Did he have anything good on him?" asked Ushio, knowing full well of Ardiendo's "habit".

"Nothing of value." Which in turn translated as: _"I've earned more on D-rank missions."_

"And you Ko-kun?" asked Mana, turning her head to better see the boy resting on her shoulder. Confined to her small stature for the duration of the first and second parts of the Chunin Exams, Mana considered it good fortune she only had to grow to twenty feet tall this time. The last time she had kept her size bottled up she nearly tore down a building. From the inside.

"I fought that girl from that eccentric jonin's team… Tenten." Kodou shrugged, "I went with quick and simple."

"Simple?" guffawed Ardiendo. "You used that damn Great Wave Explosion to flood the entire arena!"

"Great Wave—Ko-kun!" exclaimed Mana, taking the startled genin in her hands and giving him a quick look over. "You know you're not supposed to use big techniques like that without—"

"I'm fine, Mana!" exclaimed Kodou despite how dizzy he was from Mana handling him like a supposedly damaged rag-doll. "I ate a soldier pill before the match. I should be fine for a few hours more. Probably need to sleep for at least a couple days to make up for it though…"

"Ko-kun!"

"Lecture later him later," said Sokudo, grinning mischeviously. "When he's too tired to argue!" Kodou shot his blue-haired teammate a dirty look as Mana nodded in agreement before she set him down beside her.

"So what's the plan of attack here?" asked Ushio.

"I… don't know…" Ardiendo sighed. "Razin-sensei and Lotus are both under watch thanks to their helping the Hyuuga girl.

"What? When did this happen?" asked Mink, not too surprised to hear her sensei getting in trouble.

"Razin-sensei helped stop a match. Between two Hyuuga." Kodou answered.

"Oh man…" Sokudo winced. "Let me guess. One main, one branch. Right?"

"Yeah. The jerk nearly killed her. As it was, it was all the Konoha medic-nin could do to keep her stabilized." Ardiendo said.

"Until Lotus-sensei stepped in." Kodou sighed, and started to lean against Mana's leg. "Went and used… that… zzzz…"

Mana blinked. "Ko-kun?"

"Zzzz…" Kodou snored, completely dead to the world.

"And he's out…" Ardiendo shook his head, smiling despite himself. With a sigh he rose to his feet. "We can't just go and kidnap them. I guess…" His eyes narrowed and he glanced at the forest before he warily continued, "we're just going to have to go to them."

"Cool! Dibs on—" Ushio interrupted Sokudo before he got started.

"We can't all go." He shot a mild glare at Sokudo. "And we can't call dibs either. Some of us have other priorities."

_"So glad to be remembered."_ A heavy weight made itself known on Ushio's shoulders, a massive grin filled to the brim with fangs. A humanlike feline with grace and power of the mighty thunderstorm with fine orange fur with the occasional black stripe, but sporting a massive mane of hair with a forecrop of red and white where electric sparks of lightning danced to match the arrogant mirth in pupil-less eyes shaped like diamonds. _"What's with you quiting before the fun's started? Losing your backbone, Ushio?"_

"Shut it, you." Ushio smacked his passenger in the face with his flat end of the spear he held uncovered in his right hand and had been using as a leaning pole just moments ago.

A watery tendril snaked itself up Mana's arm to curl lightly around her neck like an aquatic scarf. It held no true shape of its own but there was a certain… enormity to it that could be seen despite how small it could appear. Luminous eyes stared down at the sleeping Kodou before soft sounds like whale song sang from its bubbly depths. Mana's eyes widened and a bright blush lit up her face that she hid behind a hand. A hand that Ardiendo noticed was holding her nose shut to stop a sudden bleeding.

A whuffing laughter, smoke appearing in small bursts of black cloud from a glowing snout lined with fangs. Molten eyes like a snake's crunched up in amusement at the scene, crimson wings spread to catch the heat of the sun. Dark, stony scales aligned like bone against soft leathery skin of equally dark purple. A nightmarish creature standing shorter than a full-grown man but it was to be expected really. It was, after all, a mere child in body if not in years.

Ardiendo reached up and scratched just beneath his companion's chin, a particular spot that was well enjoyed if the rapid tail-thumping was any indication. "Three days from now, when Kodou-baka wakes up from his nap, he can go check out the forests, maybe see some of the local wildlife. I heard tanuki are rare in these parts but it should be easy to find one." The others stiffened only marginally, instantly recognizing what Ardiendo was not saying.

They were being watched.

Ardiendo noticed Mana's hopeful look that was mirrored by luminous eyes beside her. "Yes, you can go too if you want…"

Mana's smile was positively beaming. "Okay!"

"I need you to keep an eye out for some incoming musicians." Ardiendo pointed at Ushio and his invisible partner. "They'll be here closer to when the concert is supposed to be so watch out for a chameleon in the mean time."

"What about me?" asked Sokudo, lazily twirling a kunai around his finger. "Can't I go and do something, I don't know…? Fun? Like introduce this village to the joy that is chili-dogs?"

Sweatdrop… "As interesting as that might be, I do need you to go and run a couple of errands for Razin-sensei, if you're up to it."

"Up to it? Puh-lease! Where, when, and what?"

"Home, three days from now, and a couple of Lotus's favorite animals. You know which ones."

"Got it!" Sokudo's farewell wave blurred in place as the genin himself vanished through the forest, a sonic boom echoing in his wake, just like Ardiendo had planned. Repressing a smirk at the muffled curses from the trees, he placed a hand on Mink's shoulder, earning a brilliant smile from the redhead.

"Mink and I will go and see if Uzumaki's gotten his seal fixed or not. If it hasn't by the time Kodou wakes up, we'll take him to see Lotus-dono personally."

Ushio smiled knowingly. "Until then, you get some alone-time with your girlfriend right, Ryu-nii?"

"Shut up."

* * *

Soft azure orbs stared down at the sleeping girl resting on the hospital bed before him with clear despair shining in their luminous depths. A hitai-ate was clenched tightly in one hand, a well-worn pair of goggles replacing it on the blonde's forehead. An even older wallet shaped like a comical frog rested lightly in the pocket of his pants, his recent expenditure evident by the large vase of gardenias resting upon the nearby table, next to a smaller vase of zinnias. These two seemingly small and insignificant things would seem almost trashy to anyone else, the goggles so well-used the lenses were almost cracked, and the little froggy wallet was had inexperienced patchwork decorating its otherwise soft green body. To anyone else, they'd be absolutely worthless, thrown out with yesterday's garbage.

However, has it not been proven time and again that Naruto Uzumaki is not most people?

To someone like Naruto Uzumaki, who has been shunned for the better part of his life with few notable exceptions, he could actually count the number of times a gift was given to him on one hand from the people of his village. An act of kindness a close overflow of two hands but still dreadfully small. Old Man Hokage… Teuchi-san and his daughter Ayame… Iruka-sensei… That was the list from first to latest in Naruto's mind for so long it was almost impossible to wrap his mind around another being second to the Old Man…

Every year since he first started at the academy, Naruto received a gift for his birthday, a day that he stayed holed up in his apartment with a kunai clutched tightly in hand, making pretend guests for an otherwise lifeless birthday party. When he heard the timid knock, Naruto had jumped to his feet, ready for anything to happen but no attacks came, no yells for the demon's death, only the sound of footsteps hurrying away into the night.

Naruto remembered how he had found the pair of goggles resting on his doorstep with a note smelling of lavender held beneath them. Written in pink crayon by a girl's hand, Naruto kept the note still in his apartment, in a small chest filled with other seemingly worthless possessions, all of them gifts on his birthday by an unknown sender.

While it could be said that Naruto was not the sharpest tool in the shed, even a fool such as he could not miss the sudden familiarity in Hinata's scent, back when he had caught her in his arms. It had taken a trip down memory lane in the safe seclusion of his apartment, looking at treasures old and new, for Naruto to make the sudden connection. However, knowing gave him more questions than answers; questions he was too afraid to ask even in the depths of his own mind but still they arose in him like serpents.

Before knowing the truth, Naruto was planning on beating Neji sheerly for principle's sake. That damn arrogance, so much like Sasuke-teme's own, demanded an ass-kicking and with his near fatal attack on Hinata added on top of that, it would have been upgraded to a severe beatdown. Now knowing just what kind of person Hinata was, and how much she had been there for him during the worst days of his young life, that plan had changed drastically.

Naruto wasn't just going to beat Neji.

Azure turned to crimson, pupils narrowing into slits as sharp incissors lengthened into fangs while a low growl shook the windows of the room.

He was going to _destroy_ him.

* * *

Brick red hair wavered in the wind, turquoise eyes staring listlessly at the sleeping city below with the light of the moon shining brightly above like a spotlight to illuminate the darkness of the night. The stars were twinkling above like the few lit lights below, a beautiful sight to behold, but Gaara's eyes cared not to see them, his mind busy with other things than the accidental beauty that surrounded him. In his hand there was a piece of folded parchment and though it was too dark to read again, Gaara remembered the words perfectly.

_Thinking of you, wherever you are…_

_We pray for our sorrows to end, and hope that our hearts will blend…_

_Now we will step forward to realize this wish. And who knows:_

_Starting a new journey may not be so hard, or maybe… it has already begun._

_There are many worlds, but they share the same sky._

_One sky, one destiny._

There was no name, only a symbol consisting of three circles. The symbol of Ji'neigakure, the Village Hidden in Man's Shadow.

Gaara did not know what they wanted with him, or what they saw in him to be so interested in the first place besides the obvious truth. While his attention was more on the companions of the one genin team from Ji'nei, Gaara had not missed the fact that no one, not even his own family, had seen the creatures standing with those genin, no one but himself… and one other.

'_Uzumaki… Naruto…_'

The mask was good, almost perfect really, but Gaara had seen the cracks, small as they were, and had seen beneath the façade, saw the despair and the lonliness. Gaara was by no means a chakra sensitive but the demon within him was and he had come to realize just how alike they were.

The insane demon of the bloodied sands, master of the desert winds, the Ichibi no Tanuki… sealed within Gaara no Sabaku…

The demon of devastation, master of the nine forbidden arts, the Kyuubi no Youko… imprisoned within Naruto Uzumaki…

Two of the Tailed Beasts here, in the Chunin Exams… did the pretender know of this beforehand or was it simple circumstancial favor? Perhaps so, but in the end it would not matter. The mask notwithstanding, Gaara knew the two of them were different, reason and madness, good and evil, light and dark… two sides of the same coin and like all opposites, neither could survive in the presence of the other.

Emotionless eyes turned down to the parchment held tightly in a pale hand. Gaara knew not how or why but he knew with absolute certainty that by meeting with the teams from Ji'nei, Gaara would find Naruto. A battle between two Jinchuuriki… a battle between madness and reason… It would be grand… it would be devastating… anyone foolish enough to stand between them would meet a terrible end…

For the first time in years, a small smile grew on Gaara's face, as a spark of hope shined in his eyes.

'_And maybe he'll kill me… and I won't have to suffer anymore…_'

* * *

The Land of Fire is by no means the largest of the Elemental Countries but it is one of the most powerful. The first country to support the shinobi clans, and by doing so created the first of the many ninja villages, the Land of Fire had created the largest Hidden Village in recorded history. One would think that because of its size and grandeur, the citizens of Konoha, ninja and civilian alike, would become arrogant in themselves, so arrogant as to lead to their own self-destruction.

Sin was not a foreign concept to most ninjas, for sin was a constant companion in everything they did in many ways; motivation, action… it did not really matter just what exactly just that sin was assuredly there. Still there remained one sin of the deadly seven that though many a ninja would claim to have escaped from, and could in that regard be called delusional lairs, would serve as the deadliest sin of them all, the one and only sin that would always lead a ninja to an honorless death.

Pride.

Pride was a ninja's greatest weakness, and it was an easy sin to embrace, willing or otherwise. There was not a single person alive in all of Konoha that did not feel sinful pride and cause themselves further pain. The Hyuuga clan, so proud of their magnificent eyes divided themselves in two. One to run the clan as a whole, the other to serve as its proctectors outside the village walls. Without the seal that made the branch house rightfully earn the name of "caged birds", the Hyuuga would have destroyed themselves a long time ago.

The Uchiha… Well, that is a history lesson for another time, another place.

Now, while the sin of pride was a dangerous thing, it could not be denied that there was some virtue in vanity. The citizens of Konoha, citizen and ninja alike, both shared a common sense of pride, a firm respect that would never waver, never doubt, and never be destroyed even when the physical representation of that sense of pride was turned back to the rubble that gave it shape.

The Hokage of the past and the present, all four lined one after the other, all but one dying before their prime. Never forgotten and always remembered. While not strictly off-limits, few people ever traversed up the small mountain range to reach the top of the monument despite the spectacular view of the village below. Not because of the trek itself but more that they felt it almost disrespectful to stand on the heads of the Hokages, to put one's self above them.

Neither of the monument's current visitors felt such vanity on their part. One, an ashen haired youth with molten eyes of flame, tall for his age with a lithe but thick build, an all-around fighter. The other had hair of turquoise with amber eyes like a snake's own and was short in comparison but with a wider build to make up for it, a heavy brawler-type.

They were visitors to Konoha, from a foreign village and nation, but even they could recognize the importance of such a place and easily deduced the view even from far below.

"Huh…" Ardiendo Rugido sat back on his hands, one leg hanging lazily over the brow of the Shodai. "I think I understand just why he likes hanging out up here so much…"

"Yeah…" agreed Kodou Gyorai, for once being civil with his rival from where he sat atop the head of the Nidaime. "It's not a bad view really but… it's not home."

"No it isn't is it…" Ardiendo sighed and fell onto his back, staring up at the darkening sky as stars began to appear. "Ten days left… think we can do it?"

"Honestly? … I don't know… but we have to try. For him—for them—we have to try."

"Hmmm… Come Heaven or Hell, together we ride as one…" Ardiendo whispered, his voice carried on the wind to Kodou's ears. "For reasons all to our own, we travel down the untraveled road to our own redemption."

"For the price we paid, we carry on."

* * *

Konoha Stadium was by no means a normal stadium. To start with, the stadium was likely one of the largest structures in all of Konoha, which for a near-city scale village was truly saying something. It would have to be to hold a large capacity of ninja and citizens both foreign and domestic, never mind the visiting dignitaries like the Daimyo and their vassals. The "playing field" was made to replicate an average piece of land, consisting only of a few sparse trees, a couple of boulders here or there, and a small pond. The environment was to both give and take to the combatants, a neutral ground where the only true advantage was made by those who knew when and how to take it.

The hour was fast approaching and while the seats were filled nearly to the brim, the best of which were occupied by the visiting dignitaries and their guards, there still remained missing a few key players to the third and final round of the Chunin Exams.

Hayate coughed into his hand, looking over the gathered genins one at a time. '_Neji Hyuuga… Kankuro… Shikamaru Nara… Temari… Shino Aburame…_' Hayate's usual despondent frown deepened a fraction. '_Over half the combatants aren't here yet…_' Left unsaid was the fact that these particular combatants were, for the most part, the crowd favorites and part of the first three rounds of the tournament style test.

Kankuro frowned and glanced over at his sister who shrugged. After their last conversation with their little brother yesterday evening, neither of them had seen him since. It wouldn't have bothered them too much if the conversation itself hadn't been so… bizarre…

A sudden firestorm appeared in the middle of the arena, a swirling tornado of flames that reached upwards a good several yards before suddenly whooshing out as quickly as it appeared, leaving a slightly smoking pair of genin at its center.

"I am _never_ under _any_ circumstances, doing that ever _again!_" hissed Kodou Gyorai as he patted at a still smoking shoulder.

"If you must travel, at least travel in style." Ardiendo Rugido coughed a small cloud of smoke before walking forward to stand in line with the assembled genin with Kodou following after him, still grumbling to himself, both ignoring the stares his entrance earned him. Physically, both genin did not appear much different and their own unique choice of uniform remained ever the same except for a few minor details.

A massive sword was now strapped to Ardiendo's back, of what make or kind, Hayate did not recognize but by its width, the Special Jonin assumed it a two-handed one at the very least. As for Kodou, he held no rare weapon of his own though he possessed a larger number of fuma shuriken strapped to his waist on opposite sides.

A sandstorm kicked up in the middle of the arena, not far from the assembled genin. The two from Suna relaxed slightly before tensing even tighter than before as the two of them recognized this style of shunshin. The miniaturized tornado collapsed upon itself, coalescing into a massive gourd on a familiar redhead's back. Temari and Kankuro blinked and stared quite openly at the change in their brother's appearance.

He still wore the same black trousers as before but instead of his mesh shirt and sash combo, Gaara had replaced it with a steel mesh shirt beneath a large trench coat colored a clayish red with a piece of leather armor over that. His hair was, for whatever reason, slightly longer than when his siblings last saw him, which was odd in itself as they had seen him just earlier that morning, but the thing that scared them the most about Gaara's appearance was not his new clothes.

Gaara of the Desert… was smiling…

It was a small smile to be sure and on anyone else it would appear most normal but to his siblings it was a shocking, nay near terrifying sight to behold.

He walked over to stand between the open space between his siblings, looking at them each in turn. "Kankuro-oniisan… Temari-oneesama… I apologize for the delay."

Kankuro looked like he had seen a ghost and Temari looked ready to faint. '_He just called me sister! He apologized!_' Temari's mind was in a circle, constantly repeating itself over and over as she tried to understand just what had happened to the murderous hellion that had been her baby brother just hours ago. Kankuro was in a similar state but, unlike his sister, he couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"How come she gets to be called –sama?"

Gaara glanced out the corner of his eye and Kankuro immediately regretted saying anything until Gaara answered him, "She doesn't dress up as a cat."

Kankuro blinked owlishly and slowly looked to his sister who stared back just as incredulously. "Did… did he just make a joke?"

"I…" Temari shook her head. "I think so."

"Joke, hell, he was stating a fact ya walking embarrassment." Kodou snorted from where he stood at the far end of the line.

Before the matches could begin prematurely, there came a sudden explosion of smoke from the sky above, a shunshin technique done incorrectly. A flash of golden yellow locks and blazing orange appeared in midair from the explosion of smoke, a lithe form twisting tightly in midair to land roughly on his back.

"Ouch… Damn it, I thought I had it that time…" Naruto Uzumaki groaned to himself before leaping to his feet. He turned to regard the staring genins and scratched the back of his head sheepishly as he took a page from his sensei's book. "Sorry I'm late but I got lost on the road of life."

That earned a small chuckle from Ardiendo. "Well, at least you found your way here."

Naruto laughed and walked over to stand beside Ardiendo, ignorant of the stares he was receiving from the Konoha citizens at his attire. He was still dressed in a orange jumpsuit but it was one of a far better quality than his previous one. The torso was colored a dark obsidian with red stitching along the sides with metal armor plates sown onto the forearms and shins. He wore two hitai-ate, the one given to him by Iruka-sensei wrapped firmly around his left bicep and a new black one tied firmly around his forehead, the long strips of cloth fluttering in the wind.

"Well –cough– now that the majority is here…" Hayate looked over the genin. "The first match may begin. Cough! Naruto Uzumaki. Neiji Hyuuga. You two shall remain. Cough… The rest of you, please go to the waiting room. Cough…"

The rest of the genin walked away, leaving the two aforementioned genin behind, both of whom moved to stand before the other with the sickly Hayate standing between them.

"… You look like you have something to say." Neji smirked, seeing well the rage within Naruto's eyes without the aid of the byakugan.

Naruto growled low in his throat, a fierce rumble that startled Hayate with cold familiarity. Naurto held up a tightly clenched fist to his opponent. "I told you before… I'm going to make you pay for what you did."

In the background both combatants heard Hayate call for the match's beginning but their focus was entirely on their opponent, one with an air of prideful arrogance, the other a cloak of angered conviction.

"Heh… That makes it worthwhile." Neji's condescending smile grew as he shifted into the first stance of the Gentle Fist. "It will be fun to watch you fall apart when you discover reality."

"Shut up and fight!" growled Naruto, launching forward with one hand pulled back, finger curled as nails lengthened into sharp claws as sapphire eyes lost their light to the darkness within.

_

* * *

To Be Continued..._

**

* * *

On the next road…  
**

_OMAKE_


	7. OMAKE

A/N: I apologize the lack of updates for this story but, unfortunately, it's update speed will be hindered somewhat until the current arc in the Naruto manga, that being with... well not to spoil anything but the "Red Hot-Blooded Habanero" and all that what-not. Once that arc is complete and (hopefully) many questions are answered, No Free Ride to Redemption shall continue.

On a completely unrelated note, at this moment this story has 9 favorites, 12 alerts... and 1 review.

Bahamut: In other words, he's wanting some actual opinion for his work here, people. Indulge him.

Mewtwo: For our sanity if nothing else.

Thank you my muses...

DISCLAIMER: I OWN WHAT IS MY OWN.

* * *

**No Free Ride to Redemption**

By Corvus no Genmu

_OMAKE: "In the Morning…"_

7:30 AM… Day of the Chunin Exam Finals…

"Kankuro."

The young Sand genin felt his heart clench painfully in his chest as he slowly lifted his eyes away from his plate of food, his fook quivering slightly in his tightly closed mouth.

"You will forfeit your match instead of Temari."

Kankuro nearly choked but managed to swallow down his food. "Wh-What? Why?" He suddenly paled as he realized he had just raised his voice to _Gaara_. He felt that his life would flash before his eyes as Gaara's own settled on him.

"Temari's opponent is… lax… The effort of killing her would be too troublesome for him… Yours will destroy you easily."

Temari raised an eyebrow at that but she didn't argue as that meant she didn't have to forfeit against that lazy good-for-nothing and her sense of pride could remain intact. Her brother on the other hand, from a sudden lapse of intelligence, a frequent occurance as of late, had to open his trap with, "What the hell makes you think mine could kill me?"

Gaara stared at Kankuro and the make-up wearing genin suddenly found himself speechless not for the fact that Gaara's eyes were on him but the look of them. Were his baby brother anyone else, Kankuro, in his own admittedly limited experience in dealing with other people, would have assumed that there was honest concern in Gaara's eyes.

"That one… Kodou Gyodai… travels down the same road as I…"

Temari paled, thinking she knew just what Gaara was not saying with his words. "Is he like you? A jinchuuriki?"

Gaara's lips twitched faintly as though fighting back a smirk. "No. Though his road is on a different path than my own… In the end, it will not matter."

"You… You're not hoping of fighting him are you?" asked Temari, a note of family concern in her voice. Sand versus water was assuredly a bad match-up and she knew her brother would not win such a fight or escape it unscathed. Worse yet, if Kodou was truly not a jinchuuriki but powerful enough to be compared to one… Temari swallowed though her mouth was uncomfortably dry. Such a match-up would end only disaster the likes of which no one could escape from.

"I am not." Gaara rose to his feet and started heading out but paused at the door. "I look forward to my battle against Uzumaki Naruto… Konoha's jinchuuriki." With his siblings effectively stunned out of their minds, Gaara left for the stadium leaving behind what could best be described as two alabaster statues of his siblings. So shocked were they that neither sibling noticed that Gaara's plate had been left completely untouched, just as it has been for the last several days.

* * *

8:15 AM

Hiruzen Sarutobi was known under many different names; some nice, others not-so-nice. During the prime of his life, particularly under the late and early reigns of the First and Second Hokages, Hiruzen earned the title of "God of Shinobi" one that was entitled to one man before him, the creator of ninjutsu who had another, more befitting, title during his life.

Sage of the Six Paths.

To be fair, the reasons in how the two men earned their shared title were vastly different. The Sage was the creator of ninjutsu, held mastery over all six elements of life, and was even the first _true_ jinchuuriki. Hiruzen Sarutobi had mastered well over a thousand jutsu and knew well of the forbidden arts though he refrained from practicing them unlike his forsaken and traitorous student. It is because of his vast knowledge on jutsu that Hiruzen earned the nickname of "Professor".

However, he was no longer in the prime of his life and "Professor" was merely a kind way of saying just how old the powerful shinobi had become. It is understandable that for a shinobi to be as old and successful as Hiruzen has been, they would logically have to be either extremely lucky… or very powerful, and Lady Luck was no friend to Hiruzen Sarutobi as he himself would attest. He is a powerful shinobi, one of the greatest Konoha has ever had, but he still suffered from the vice of ninja.

Hiruzen Sarutobi is human.

The Third Hokage of Konoha turned old eyes to the younger man sitting on his left. The Yondaime Kazekage of Sunagakure… or so the imposter would have one believe. Yes, Hiruzen knew that the man beside him was not the Kazekage. Anyone who really knew the man would be able to tell the difference. Arrogant and prideful he might be, the Kazekage was by no means shy and would not hide his face from anyone. If anything, he'd want his enemies to see the face of their executor before they died rather than any of that life-flashing nonsense. However, just because Hiruzen knew the man beside him was a decoy, he did not even begin to suspect who was really beneath the face-concealing mask but he was beginning to have a very good suspicion as to who thanks in no small part to the man sitting on his right.

He was a tall man, still in his youth but quite old with experience. He was tanned from many hours in the sun but not too dark as to match well with the citizens of the Land of Lightning. His hair was dark and tied back into a long braid that fell down to his ankles where a faint glint of steel could be seen hidden in the lionlike tuft at the end. As he wasn't an official kage, he was exempt from the standard uniform but that did not mean he wasn't dressed in style.

Obsidian pants with an equally dark blue shirt, both made of the finest silks, all beneath a crimson robe with Ji'neigakure's symbol marking the back, just between the shoulders. He carried no obvious weapons, as per the treaty that no village leader, kage or otherwise, could carry weapons but as ninja, such rules were often ignored. Like the Hokage and Kazekage, he had a pair of bodyguards standing behind him on either side, one male and one female as evident by their body size and shape as any further details were hindered by the heavy ANBU-esque robes they were wearing.

The leader of the Village Hidden in Man's Shadow, Mordecai von Hohenheim.

A foreigner from lands unknown though in appearance much like the people of the Elemental Countries. To Ji'nei, Mordecai is as much their leader as he is their equal for he asks nothing of them that he wouldn't ask of himself. The civilians loved him, the ninja respected and honored him, but that was not the full case outside of Ji'neigakure. In the years leading to the creation of his beloved village, Mordecai challenged anyone who stood out in the ninja world, particularly those of high rank and great prestige, missing or otherwise. However… those battles were finished decades ago, the most recent barely twenty years past… and though he was quite old now himself, Hiruzen Sarutobi remembered Mordecai well though it was nearly thirty years since they last met.

In all that time, Mordecai's appearance had not changed; he didn't appear so much as a day older in point-of-fact. He assumed it a genjutsu much like the one his wayward student Tsunade employed but no… Hiruzen's eyes trailed once more to the Kazekage whose hateful glare remained entirely upon Mordecai.

He saw the rage, the loathing, the sheer _jealousy_ in those eyes and Hiruzen knew then and there that Mordecai was not employing a genjutsu. There was only one thing in all the world that ever made his traitorous student's eyes shine like that. The one thing in all the world that Orochimaru coveted more than mastery of all the jutsu there ever were and will be, bloodline or otherwise. The one thing no human being could ever truly possess.

"Nothing but rookies this year… the majority all based in Konoha no less. Are we showing some favoritism, Hokage-sama?" Mordecai's voice was like silk, soft and delicate but Hiruzen knew well the knife hidden beneath the soft folds of fabric.

"Konoha has had an exceptional group this year," he answered in reply. He smiled genially at the village leader. "Had they not forfeited, I'm suppose the majority would be in your favor."

Mordecai smiled as he leaned forward to look down at the arena below. It wasn't a forfeit but it was good enough to please him. "Ah yes… Regardless, Ardiendo and Kodou will do well, of that I have little doubt." He suddenly turned and met the Kazekage's eyes.

"And what of you, Kazekage-sama? Those are two of your children down there are they not?"

The False Kazekage blinked and forced himself to relax. "I have faith that my children will not disappoint me." His eyes drifting over the two eldest that were below, and frowning at the missing and most crucial third, the faker never saw the quick look exchanged between Hiruzen and Mordecai. "My youngest especially should he show up in time…"

"Perhaps they will, perhaps they won't." Mordecai agreed amiably, looking over the growing crowd. "But pray, tell me… isn't your youngest against the Uchiha?" He suddenly laughed as though he had made a good joke. "Never mind. If that boy is anything like his grandfather, I'm more than sure your son will succeed with little effort much like I did."

There was a sharp spike of killing intent but it was quickly snuffed down. Beneath the mask he wore, Orochimaru grit his teeth hard enough to nearly crack them, his fingernails digging deep into the palms of his hands and drawing blood. There it was again, not spoken clearly but just as obvious as Mordecai simply sitting there attested. Well over fifty years since then, the stories were still well-known though still marked by the passage of time and through word-of-mouth as stories often are. Despite this, the one and final truth could not be denied.

He is Mordecai von Hohenheim.

The Immortal Sage.

* * *

9:35 AM

Whether it was by subconscious nostalgia or conscious instinct, Naruto found himself in a familiar training ground. The very one that started his career as an official ninja of the Leaf and his days as a genin, the very one where years ago… well, that was a trip down a memory lane for another time. Naruto reached the three wooden logs with a sardonic smile, thinking back on the few… not quite fond but good memories to them when he finally took notice that he was not as alone as he assumed in the old training grounds.

"Hinata-chan? You're out of the hospital!"

"!" Naruto blinked and, to his own bemusement, saw that Hinata had leapt behind one of the tall logs, half-hiding behind it as she stared at him with a rosy blush on her face. If this was how she reacted to her new way of address, the Uzumaki couldn't wait to see how she'd react to his entrance at the coliseum complete in his new outfit. "Na-Na-Naruto-kun… Why… are you here…? Shouldn't you be at the Stadium…?"

"Well… I just came by to check out the practice field. It holds a lot of memories, this is where I first became a genin!"

"Ye-Yes…"

An uncomfortable silence descended upon the pair. Naruto had so much he wanted to say, to do, but he was held back by self-doubts that exceeded even the shyest of Hyuuga. However, it seemed that though twice shy she might well be, Hinata had gained confidence since her match. Not much to be sure but that small margin had grown a subtle bit more with Naruto calling her Hinata-_chan_. Simply amazing how one simple word can change a person so drastically, neh?

"Oh… Umm… When you cheered for me… I felt like I had become stronger… After the prelims ended, I started liking myself a little more…" Hinata spoke as she shyly pressed her fingers together, a cute blush on her face as she looked down at her feet.

'_Hinata-chan…_'

"To other people it may not seem like I changed but… I… felt like I was able to change…" She looked up to meet Naruto's eyes with a shy smile. "It was thanks to you, Naruto-kun…"

"Thanks to me, huh?" Naruto laughed, but it was an empty sound, the light not quite there in his eyes. "I guess I'm a very influential person." Konoha's jinchuuriki glanced down at the ground. "Do you really think that about me… Hinata-chan?"

"Huh?"

"I may appear strong to you but… that's because I act all tough because I'm so frustrated from always failing…" _My friends, my family… and you…_

"That's not true… even when you always fail." Hinata winced at her words on Naruto's behalf, but continued, "In my eyes… you're a proud failure!" Naruto's downcast look vanished as he stared incredulously at Hinata who blushed in response and shyly started twiddling with her fingers again. "When I look at you I get an intense feeling in my heart… because you're not perfect… Because when you fail… you have the strength to get back up… because I believe that's what true strength is…

"I… I think you are an incredibly strong person Naruto-kun."

Naruto was silent, his eyes impossibly wide as he openly stared at the Hyuuga Heiress, unsure of what to say or do in reaction to her words. The realization that he was an Uzumaki and thus excempt from such things as thinking before leaping, Naruto did what he did best and reacted on sheer instinct.

Hinata felt her face reach entire new levels of red as Naruto's arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders, his face pressed into her neck, his breath teasing against her suddenly sensitive flesh. Her mouth was open but she could only utter a small squeak that sounded more like a mouse than anything else. Hinata's eyes turned into swirls and she slumped back in Naruto's arms.

"Hinata-chan? Hinata-chaaan? Jeez, if that's how she reacts to a hug…" Naruto trailed off as he carefully set her down to lean against one of the logs. He kneeled beside her, just looking at her for a short time before he pulled out a piece of paper and placed it in Hinata's hand. He wondered if he should take her to the hospital when his nose twitched and he grimaced at the stench of unwashed dog but he smiled knowing Hinata-chan would be in good hands. He grinned as his hands flashed through a vast array of seals, blurring with increasing speed until he vanished in a cloud of red-tinted smoke.

His entrance was going to be so freaking awesome!

_

* * *

To Be Continued..._

**

* * *

On the next road…  
**

_Breaking the Lock  
_


	8. Breaking the Lock

DISCLAIMER: I OWN WHAT IS MY OWN.

* * *

**No Free Ride to Redemption**

By Corvus no Genmu

_"Breaking the Lock"_

It can easily be stated that most ninja clans have a special skill or ability that makes them, as a whole, a unique asset to have. The "normal" clans were weighed in a variety of ways; from the amount of members to how skilled the masters of the clan's particular jutsu were, while those of prestigious bloodlines were gauged by usefulness on the field and the progeny of said limit. Some villages adored these clans and others deplored them with a hatred that was beyond genocidal at the best of times. The Village Hidden in the Mist favored the clans of normal blood and, through the cowardice of the then reigning Mizukage, came to hate those of prestigious and powerful bloodline limits to such a degree that they all but crippled themselves in a massive civil war.

The Hidden Leaf was Mist's exact opposite in this and virtually everything else. Nearly eighty percent of the ninja community of Konoha was made up of some kind of bloodline from the simple to the powerful, but like all societies, these clans were not full equals. Oh they each had a seat in the Council but like a pyramid, there were those who served low to the ground while others stood just below the godling that was Hokage. The most powerful of the clans, they who truly gave Konoha its fierce reputation, stood like royalty beneath the Hokage and again, the sweet venom known as pride came into play…

In the years since the Uchiha Massacre, the Hyuuga became the new royalty of Konoha with the last Uchiha serving as the prodigal son of his dead clan. The Hyuuga were alike to the Uchiha clan in many ways, more than either clan would ever admit even to themselves. Both clans possessed powerful dojutsu so unique to themselves that many would believe the two almost related, a fact frowned upon most severely by both clans though it was true, by a degree. Yes, the byakugan and the sharingan were related but not by some mutation of the other, neither one came before the other. Instead, they were born from the same source, the Sage's elder son, but with the emergence of the two vastyly different dojutsu, the once whole family line became separate.

Separate though they might be now, the Uchiha and the Hyuuga were still part of the same brood, still children of darkness and vengeance. The Uchiha were ruled by their jealousy, their bitterness and in the final cast what was once a whole clan became four. The Hyuuga… are ruled by fear. Fear of their "great and noble" bloodline would be stolen and they would lose their royal prestige amongst the citizens of Konoha. Thus they split themselves in two, one to act as the shield and the other the sword. They thought this method the best option they could come up with and they'd be right. Left unchecked, the Hyuuga would continue on for several more generations to come… until at last there would be born one of the branch house who would _not_ bow their head and accept the cruelty of fate, the disdain of destiny.

That child would end up destroying the Hyuuga clan… much like the one child of the Uchiha not so long ago…

* * *

"… Become the Hokage, huh? Impossible." Neiji stood back in a relaxed stance, despite the brutality of Naruto's earlier assault. The blonde was no better than a Inuzuka, fighting more like an enraged beast than a ninja, which admittedly gave Naruto the earlier advantage. However, it was not Naruto who was standing uninjured with shadow clones dispersing around him like smoke bombs.

"I can figure it out with these eyes… Talent is decided at birth. You honestly think you could become Hokage through hard work alone? Only a handful are even considered for Hokage, so wake up and face reality! Those that become Hokage are born to that destiny!" Neiji stated with cold certainty. "There is only one destiny that everyone shares… the inescapable fate known simply as death."

Naruto scoffed loudly at that, standing half-turned in front of the Hyuuga prodigy. "All this talk about fate and destiny… why don't you tell me what's really on your mind, Neiji?" Naruto shot forward, becoming a imperceivable blur, before he delivered a vicious punch to Neiji's face before the Hyuuga could react to his sudden increase of speed.

Neiji flew back several feet but remained standing, a bruise forming on his face but otherwise unhurt by the sudden attack. His mentality though was another thing entirely. The prodigy had not failed to notice the sudden difference between the Naruto before him and the one who had fought against the Inuzuka heir a month prior. He was fast then but he was no Rock Lee. Against Neiji, Naruto might as well be walking for all the difference. Now was another story.

"What's the matter, Neiji?" Naruto's smile was missing its usual childish delight. Canines gleaming, the Uzumaki's grin was downright evil in its intensity. "Don't tell me you're coming down with a headache now!"

Now, with those words… Neiji's world was rocked to its very foundation. The Caged Bird Seal was by no means a well-kept secret in the Hyuuga clan but someone labeled as the dead-last should not even be aware of its existence let alone its properties. There were few things that could break through the icy armor that Neiji surrounded himself in but the damnable seal was easily in the top tier.

"…Hm." Neiji took a deep breath, steadying his nerves, the cold armor whole once more. "Don't make childish presumptions. It will take more than that to affect me."

"Really?" Naruto frowned looking thoughtful for a moment before smiling with a sudden inspiration. "How's this then?" His hands came together in a familiar handseal. "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"

Neiji scoffed at that, assuming that Naruto would summon forth a small army of clones and he was right, at least partially. From one end of the arena to the other, was a massive sea of orange-clad bodies with sunkissed blonde hair and sapphire eyes. Well over a thousand physical copies of Naruto Uzumaki stood in the battlefield, indeed a well-numbered army but by no means as small as Neiji had assumed. The Branch House Hyuuga prepared for a defense strike against the veritable horde when he found himself surprised yet again by the blonde's tactics.

The clones, acting in complete unison, brought out a kunai and stabbed _themselves_, thus dispelling and ending the technique. Neiji was at first confused by this and wondered not for the first time if he had ended up with a genin just as insane as that one from Suna when he activated the byakugan and realized the truth. The clouds that were once solid clones were not disappating as they should be and thus a veritable mist of chakra permeated the air around the arena. In essence, Neiji, a member of the prestigious Hyuuga clan whose powerful dojutsu allowed them incredible sight-beyond-sight…

Was fighting blind.

"Where's your Hyuuga pride now, Neiji?" Naruto's voice had a strange echoing effect to it, like his voice was speaking behind a wall of flames and through the clouds of chakra-laded smoke, Neiji could see a faint hint of light. "Destiny is an idiot and Fate…" There was a sudden flair of chakra in the sea of blue clouds. "Fate can kiss my ass!"

Steel shattered, an agonized scream as two opposing chakras met in an explosion of shining light.

Silence…

The chakra clouds faded slowly out of sight to reveal one Naruto Uzumaki standing tall over the prone form of Neiji Hyuuga. The blonde genin's right hand was clenched tightly, visibly trembling while the Hyuuga prodigy's forehead, particularly the area where a cursed seal once laid, was badly burned, smoke still rising in small wafts. Though he did not stir as his blood flowed from the vicious wound, Neiji was still alive, completely unconscious but alive.

Naruto glared down at Neiji, the coldness of his eyes fading back to the familiar warm shade. His fist slowly unclenched and he let out a breath he had unknowingly been holding in. His eyes traveled over the remaining combatants, lingering on a few in particular, before he sought out a particular face in the crowd. A familiar face framed in dark blue tresses. As the crowd erupted into cheers at Hayate's declaration of Naruto's victory, the blonde himself reacted a bit differently. His smile was just a tad sad as he mouthed the words he knew Hinata couldn't hear.

"Only for you, my most precious person…"

* * *

"Heh…" Ushio crossed his arms over his chest. "Well I'll be damned… I think that actually did the trick."

Beside him, Sokudo frowned but it was a mischevious one. "I don't know… I don't think that steel pole will be removed that easily…"

"Boys," said Mink with a roll of her eyes. "What do you think, Mana-chan?" She looked over her shoulder up at Mana who, along with the rest of them, sat in the far back of the stadium. If anyone questioned the boys or Mink, they'd say it was a ninja-thing, keeping one's back to one's allies only but the truth of it really couldn't be denied. At roughly fourteen feet in height, Mana towered over everyone present and had to sit in the far back as a result so that everyone else could actually see what was going on in the arena below. She had tried to persuade the others to sit where they wanted but they would not be swayed, and remained firmly at her side.

"I think…" Mana's eyes narrowed and she leaned forward a bit, her shadow easily falling over her friends. "Something's wrong…"

Ushio glanced in the direction the tall kunoichi was looking, his eyes turning feral for a moment. "Well, the Uchiha's match is next… and by the looks of it he takes too much after his sensei…"

"Tardy Kakashi?" snorted Sokudo who, through either his great impatience or greater speed, was never late for anything and thus could not understand why anyone would _want_ to be the last to show up at anything, especially something as important as this. "Think they'll push his match to the end?" Left unsaid was how unlikely it was that Sokudo would be patient enough to wait that long.

"He _is_ the last Uchiha." Mana said.

"The last Uchiha loyal to Konoha at any rate…" sighed Mink. She sat up, suddenly remembering. "Where's—"

"Babysitting." Ushio interrupted. He thought over what he said and winced. "Whether or not he's doing the actual sitting…"

"Don't see why we couldn't bring them here with us," muttered Mana, silently longing for the familiar comfort of aquatic tentacles wrapped in a gentle embrace, the painful ache to return to full-size a dulled tingle at the back of her mind compared to the headache she was currently experiencing.

Ushio glanced up and frowned sympathetically, well familiar with Mana's "little" problem. He suddenly smiled with sudden realization. "You know, with them pushing the Uchiha's match to the end, that means Kodou's will be next."

It was like someone had turned a mood dial in Mana's head for how brilliantly she smiled and the warm blush that adorned her face. Being on a different team, she rarely got to see Kodou in action. When Kankuro raised his arm in forfeit before his match could even begin, Mana's mood did another swift turn as her smile turned upside down as anime tears fell down her face, a near visible field of depressive ki enveloping her massive body. Ushio sweatdropped and decided that it would be better if he kept his mouth shut for the duration of the exam, however long it might be…

_Three Hours Later…_

"I've died and gone to Hell. There's no other explanation for this!" Sokudo was standing atop his seat and waving an angry fist, and though he was just one of hundreds present currently venting their own impatience, he was the loudest. "I'll die of old age before this match finishes!" Neither of the girls answered him for the both of them had their heads bowed over a romance manga and were well into the story by this point while poor Ushio looked ready to fall asleep at any moment.

Ushio smirked as he saw that Shikamaru's strategy had, at _long_ last, come to fruition. "Well, at least he won right?"

_"Ah to hell with this, I forfeit!"_

Dead silence. Three glaring eyes fell upon one Ushio Aotsuki who, miraculously, took the better part of valor and decided right then and there that it'd be better if he did not jinx anything else by opening his mouth and inserting his foot into it. '_Still, he had her on the ropes! Why would he just forfeit like that?_'

* * *

"He knows." Ardiendo stated quietly, loud enough only for his fellow Ji'nei genin to hear him

"No shit he knows!" Kodou growled, his arms crossed angrily over his chest. He did _not_ like having his opponent forefeit like a guppy, no matter how sensible it was, and he certainly did not like having to watch a match that took the better part of several hours! "Damn Nara… high IQ, low motivation the whole lot of them!"

"Which thankfully works to our benefit. He'd only get in the way." Ardiendo shot a glare at Kodou's continued grumblings. "Oh stop your bellyaching, Shark-face. Your match was against Kankuro, a _puppet_ user. Excluding myself, there is _no way_ that match-up could get any more one-sided."

"Yeah, yeah… Speaking of, shouldn't you be heading down there?"

Ardiendo leaned over the railing and glanced down to see that Temari, though extremely red in the face and panting for breath, was still ranting long and loud at the uncaring Shikamaru. The ashen-haired genin quirked an eyebrow at the slight blush on the tired Nara's face and shook his head ruefully. '_Boy's got a thing for women with an attitude… somehow, I'm not as surprised as I should be…_'

"I think I'll wait until she's done, thank you."

* * *

_One long and angry rant later…_

Ardiendo regarded his silent opponent with a raised eyebrow, his sword stilled resting in its sheathe upon his back. Shino himself stood weaponless, outside the standard ninja gear, with his hands in the pockets of his coat, his face hidden well behind the folds of his coat. Ardiendo did not doubt that, between checking up on her two other students recovery, Kurenai spent a great deal of time and effort in training Shino for this confrontation.

'_Not that it will help him any. I _refuse_ to lose to another bug_.' Ardiendo sighed, wishing he could go all out but this tournament was different than the prelims, the wavers were now null and void and he could get in serious trouble killing a Leaf genin, let alone a clan heir, in the middle of their village, no matter the circumstance. Nevermind the flack he'd get from Uzumaki about it.

Ardiendo's eyes widened before narrowing sharply as he leapt back several yards, a hand drawing to the hilt of his sword by sheer instinct as charcoaled bodies of kikkai insects fell like a breadcrumb trail. Scowling to himself, Ardiendo released his grip on his sword and stood tall, his hands at his sides. Shino tilted his head in confusion.

"Why do you not use your sword?" He asked. "Surely it will help alleviate the percentage of your success in this match."

"… You're a wordy little bug aren't you?" Ardiendo chuckled despite his harsh words. "Sorry but there are too many ears listening in for me to say anything more than this: I unsheathe my sword, you, and everyone in the stands behind you, will die." Ardiendo's eyes twitched upwards for a moment, a spark of recognition, before his hands blurred through a multitude of handseals. "Katon: Karyuu Endan!"

Shino's eyebrows reached his hairline as he leapt backward in series of cricket-like leaps as a massive stream of fire shot forth from Ardiendo's pursed lips. The flames coiled tightly, taking shape of a massive oriental dragon, and gave chase after its hopping prey until it soon began to circle the ring as it continued to grow in size until it had the entire arena in its massive coils. The fire-dragon's head reached up high, glaring down with smoldering eyes upon Shino. Letting loose a terrible war cry, the fire-dragon dove down and impacted heavily into the ground as Shino dodged out of the way once again.

Something strange was happening though as, instead of simply dispersing as faint embers, the rest of the fire-dragon's body flew along after its head and, as soon as the tail disappeared and the smoke cleared away, Shino saw that the flames had been intense enough to actually melt a hole in the ground. He frowned beneath the lapels of his coat before his eyes widened with sudden realization as Ardiendo finished a new set of seals, his body aglow with chakra.

"Yōton: Kazangan Fenikkusu!"

The earth trembled in the throws of a massive earthquake before molten magma spewed upwards from the hole, swirling like pure liquid until hardened portions arranged themselves as massive wings and sharpened beak with eyes like a blazing sun on a birdlike face. Even with half of its body still lost beneath the melting crust, the lava-made phoenix was a fearsome sight to behold with its molten wings spread to encompass half the arena, burning the trees on the other side and nearly setting them aflame from its blazing intensity.

"It is said in the western lands, that the early bird gets the worm. I wonder if that applies to kikkai?"

Shino twitched and, were he not rooted to the spot by sheer fear of the massive molten construct, would have shot a glare at the grinning Ardiendo. The insistant buzzing of the kikkai within him reminded him that this feat was no illusion and the giant phoenix made of molten death was more than ready to turn him into an overcrisped genin if given the incentive. He couldn't even send out his kikkai to try and drain Ardiendo's chakra because the air was nearing extreme temperatures and the bugs would likely burst into flames before even reaching the Ji'nei genin. Ardiendo had won the match without so much as damaging more than a mere dozen of his hive.

"… Well played." Shino bowed his head. "I forfeit the match."

Ardiendo nodded and, just like that, the molten phoenix screeched one last cry before pulling its wings tightly to its chest and disappearing down into the lava hole from whence it came. Hayate remained where he was, up and as far back as he could while still being separate from the audience and maintaining a referee-styled role towards the finals. His coughs were made a bit worse thanks to the smoke and though he was a tad bitter about it, he supposed Ardiendo's over-the-top win made things a bit easier for them to wait for Sasuke to show up.

Though he had no idea how the young genin had managed it, Hayate knew that Ardiendo had managed to burn his way straight through to one of the lava-veins that was near the surface of Konoha, specifically the one that ran quite close to the hotsprings. The Land of Fire, while having the largest forests of the Elemental Nations, Land of Wood notwithstanding, was called that for a reason and that reason was the molten hotspots that decorated its territories.

So, provided no smart-aleck suggested a heavy duty combination of water and ice jutsu, they could wait however was necessary for Sasuke to show up on the excuse of waiting for the magma to cool enough to not provide a potential danger to the combatants.

"Winner—cough!—Ardiendo Rugido!"

* * *

'_Wait for it…_'

"HOORAY FOR ARDI-KUN! HOORAY! HOORAY!"

'_And we have the girlfriend's overexuberant celebration…_' Sokudo sighed and leaned back in his chair. '_She's almost as bad as Ami…_' He glanced over and blinked in surprise. '_Where the heck did she get time to make a banner? Correction, where was she hiding it?_'

* * *

"She's exuberant as ever I see," muttered a sullen Kodou.

"You're just jealous that Mana couldn't do the same for you." Ardiendo quipped.

"The hell that I am! And who the hell do you think you are using such a powerful technique like that?" growled Kodou. "Talk about hypocrisy!"

"Well, I had a little help." Ardiendo shrugged, his head tilting slightly to the left. Kodou's anger froze and he glanced out the corner of his eye. There, on the far side of the stadium, he noted three familiar, and technically unofficial, members of Ardiendo's Team Zwei with three others accompanying them. The tallest and oldest of the trio, but by no means the most mature, took notice of Kodou's suddenly incredulous stare and waved cheerfully, his other hand busy holding the bowl of fresh popcorn away from the other two who kept trying to steal it when they thought he wasn't looking.

"The hell?" Kodou shook his head. "Never mind…" His shoulders stiffened and he shot a glance at Gaara. "If they're here now, then does that mean…?"

"Yeah…" Ardiendo's eyes narrowed as a whirlwind of leaves appeared in the center of the arena. Once the miniature tornado died down, there were two well-known ninjas standing on the battleground. The elder was the (in)famous "Copycat" Kakashi Hatake. The other was the rookie-of-the-year, the prime genin of his generation and the "last" of a prestigious but traitorous bloodline.

"Sasuke Uchiha's finally arrived."

_

* * *

To Be Continued..._

**

* * *

On the next road…  
**

_Lost in the Desert Sands_

_

* * *

_

TRANSLATIONS:

**_Katon: Karyuu Endan: _**Fire Style/Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet

_**Yōton: Kazangan Fenikkusu: **_Magma Style/Release: Volcanic Phoenix


End file.
